Growing Up
by IndigoGrapefruit
Summary: "Why is Natsume shirtless, Mikan? And why are you wearing his shirt?" "I told you they were gonna ditch us to make – nodon'tkillmeNatsume!"
1. Grade One

**Author's Note: You know, I keep skipping time and making things uneven, so I thought I'd just do a story with twelve chapters, from grade 1 to 12. I'm rushing here cause I have to go eat dinner :D but enjoy. I'll try to update this weekly, every Friday evening.**

**Disclaimer: Rushed disclaimer but you get the point :D**

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**Grade 1  
Beginning of School Year**

Six-year-old Mikan Sakura was starting first grade. She unpacked her backpack and took out a colourful notebook, her agenda, and her orange pencil case. With a smile, she hung her backpack at the rack located at the back of the classroom and advanced to sit down on the carpet with the rest of her classmates.

Their teacher was a very kind looking woman with brown hair and gray eyes.

Mikan took her time and arrived later than the rest. Without hesitation, she walked over to the only spot left on the carpet, next to the boy with the stunning crimson eyes. She sat down, turned to him and smiled brightly. He gave her an angry look and scooted as far as he could from her.

"Good morning, children," the woman said.

"Good morning!" everyone replied.

"My name is Serina-sensei, and I will be your teacher for this year."

"Hello, Serina-sensei," everyone greeted her.

"Now, how about everyone find partners and sit at a desk?" Serina suggested.

The desks were split into groups of two lining up into rows. Soon, the class seemed to partner up into twos and sat down. Mikan looked around and saw that all her friends already had partners. She bit her bottom lip and looked to the crimson-eyed boy next to her. He didn't seem to move at all. In fact, he didn't even seem to pay attention to the teacher.

"Hey, do you want to be my partner?" she asked, hoping that he wouldn't mind.

He lifted his head and glared at her. "No."

She frowned. "Well then, do you want to be my friend?"

He gave her a look that showed that he was obviously annoyed by her. "No. Go away."

She frowned. "Fine, meanie!"

Cold. Arrogant. Malicious. Those were Mikan Sakura's first impressions of Natsume Hyuuga.

By then, all the people already partnered up and found a desk. Mikan turned back to the boy.

"Please?" she asked desperately.

Natsume looked at her in disgust. He thought that she looked like those desperate, pitiful fan girls. "No."

He walked over to an empty desk near the window, sat down, and stared blankly out into the sky.

She looked around the classroom and bit her bottom lip once again when she realized that she was the only one that was left. Serina saw this and walked over.

"Is something the matter, honey?" she asked.

"I don't have a partner," Mikan mumbled, trembling when Natsume's glare landed on her.

Serina quickly scanned the room and spotted Natsume sitting by himself. She escorted Mikan, who was trying to avoid eye contact, to him.

"Why don't you sit next to him? He looks lonely," Serina commented. "You two get along now."

Natsume gritted his teeth while Mikan hid behind her, terrified. Slowly, she came out and sat down next to him, shivering from his glares.

Serina left to deal with another group of children who were bickering over who gets to sit at which desk.

"I told you that I don't want a partner," Natsume hissed, "Especially if it's you."

"Sorry," she replied, unsure of what to say.

Mikan felt uneasy for the rest of the day.

The second day was not that different from the first. Well, in Mikan's aspect it was slightly better. Natsume had not bothered her nor did he even talk at all. He just sat there, alone.

"Don't you want to join in?" Mikan asked him when they were given free time and the others were playing Simon Says.

"No," he replied, saying his favourite word. "How about you leave me alone and I'll do the same?"

She scrunched her face up in confusion. Why would anyone not want attention? The boy must have been a very antisocial person. She shrugged and strolled over to where a group of her friends were.

When she came back, he had a manga in his hand and was reading it. She looked at him curiously.

"Hey, you can read?" she said, surprised and amazed.

"Hn."

What kind of reply was that?

She frowned and sat down. "You're really weird you know?"

"Hn."

It didn't seem like he was going to stop the one worded replies any time soon, so Mikan got up again and joined another group of kids, but not before looking back at him worriedly.

And the rest of September passed by just like that. Not once did Natsume join in by himself. Sometimes, the teacher would force him to, but other than that, he always backed out of their activities and sat quietly in the corner. It didn't seem like anyone but Mikan noticed either. The children in the class were too occupied by their own activities.

October came.

"Natsume, play with us!" Mikan exclaimed, tugging at his sleeve.

"Hn." He replied. Not much had changed between them apart from the fact that he allowed her to call him by his name. He yanked the sleeve out of her hands and glared at her.

"Ahh," she sighed, "Why are you so… alone?"

"I like being alone," he snapped, "Do you have a problem with that?"

"N-no," she told him, nervous. Somehow, Natsume always seemed to intimidate her.

"Then stop bothering me," he growled. "I already had to put up with your loud mouth for a whole month."

Mikan gasped. "How rude!"

She stomped away from him and joined one of her friends. Not long after that, though, she had second thoughts and peeked back at him. She was shocked. He was talking, perfectly _talking _with a blond boy. Mikan felt happy that he made a friend, but she was hurt that it was not her. She tried so hard to be his friend so why did he just go and befriend someone else? It didn't make sense to her. It was as if he singled her out among others as someone that he disliked.

"Hey," she asked him after pondering on the subject for a few days.

He didn't even reply this time. He kept on reading manga.

"Do you hate me?"

Natsume glared at her, annoyed. "What kind of question is that? Of course I hate you."

She looked like she was about to cry. "Ok then."

He watched as she left, biting her nails and forcing back her tears. It was none of his business, that much Natsume knew, but he couldn't help but feel this guilt come over him.

She never talked to him after that day. And sometimes he would find himself curiously gazing at her, wondering how she was doing. He knew it made him seem like a stalker, but he couldn't help it.

She was making more and more friends. There was something about her, maybe her cheeriness, that attracted people. It was different from how he attracted people. With him, they were just fans; with her, they were really sincere, not just a fake act. Heck, she even made friends with Sumire Shoulda. Now _that _was an amazing accomplishment. He also noticed her getting closer to his best friend, Ruka. She loved the bunny he always had around him and he saw that Ruka enjoyed her company.

Now he felt left out. It was weird. He had never wanted to be a part of something as much as he had now. It was like she suddenly left him and took everything along with her.

He saw her talking to the teacher a few weeks later. He pretended not to notice her, but he was secretly eavesdropping.

Mikan had a hand to her mouth and nervously commented, "Serina-sensei… I was wondering if I could trade places with Ruka-pyon."

Serina was surprised. "Why? Don't you like sitting with Natsume-kun?"

She glanced his way nervously and he quickly whizzed his head around 180 degrees.

"No," he heard, "It's just that… I feel that _he_ doesn't like _me_, and he never talks."

Natsume could practically feel Serina's gaze landing on him. He silently clenched his fist inside his pocket. Why did she have to take him so seriously?

"I think he'd talk if Ruka-pyon was sitting next to him," she continued.

"I'll see what I can do…" Serina commented reluctantly.

Natsume turned back and saw Mikan smiling brightly. "Thanks, sensei!"

She hopped off to her group of friends. He could hear the laughter from where he was standing. It pissed him off. He slowly clenched his fist and scowled.

He didn't notice Ruka making his way to him.

"Natsume."

Natsume snapped his head back and gave him an angry glare. Realizing that it was just Ruka, his expression softened up.

Ruka took a step back in surprise. "Are you ok?"

Natsume nodded and continued to gaze at Mikan and her friends. Ruka's eyes flashed to the direction that he was looking and he saw them.

"Do you wish you didn't do that?"

"What?" he growled, fully aware of how aggravated he sounded.

"Driving her away."

"Whatever…"

He pretended not to care, but Ruka could tell by his expression that he _really _regretted it.

"Maybe you should say sorry," he suggested and shrugged.

Natsume didn't respond. He was too occupied, but he decided what he _would _do.

* * *

After school, he saw Serina arranging desks and he stayed behind. Don't get me wrong. Natsume was not volunteering. I mean, when did he _ever _volunteer for _anything_?

"Hey, hag."

Serina took a step back out of surprise. Who knew that a first grader could use such offensive language? "Excuse me?"

Natsume rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Listen. I'm only going to say this once. I heard you and that idiot talking earlier. If you make a new seating plan, I'll make my dad fire you."

Serina nodded slowly and hesitantly. She was aware that Natsume's father was the head of the school board and could accomplish that easily. It really disturbed her, though, that a first grader was already making threats, but she let it go this once.

"Glad you understand," he commented and left with satisfaction on his face.

And he didn't even notice Mikan behind the door, taking her time and putting on her coat and backpack. She overheard everything and turned around seeing the smile on his face for the slightest second through the crack. Her eyes widened.

* * *

Natsume did not understand. Mikan was going all bright and sunshiny on him today. She had been ignoring him for so many weeks now, so why did she decide to bother him again today?

"Hey, Natsume!" she exclaimed, "Can you teach me how to read?"

He felt her sit in her seat securely beside him.

"It's not my fault if you can't keep up," he growled.

Her mouth was ajar for a slight moment, and she put the face back on. "Ok!"

They got up after the lunch bell rang and went to the coat rack to get out their lunch. She hung her stuff right beside his so she could continue talking to him.

"Hey, you want to be friends?" she offered again.

"Whatever."

She beamed, taking that as a yes. "Yay!"

She tugged his arm and skipped back to their desk, "C'mon! I'm hungry!"

"You're annoying," he told her.

She just beamed again.

Natsume gave a sigh.

They sat down at their desks and Mikan took out her lunch. She was about to open it and dig in but she turned to him first and saw him reading manga again.

"Where's your lunch?" she asked.

"Don't have one."

"It's not good to skip lunch," she protested.

He shrugged.

"Don't you miss out on all the food?"

"Not really," he growled. Man, she was getting on his nerves.

Seeing that he was impossible, she took out hers and started nibbling her sandwich. He said that he wasn't hungry, but she could see his eyes dart to the people eating food. Without hesitation, she split her sandwich in half and offered him the unbitten half.

Natsume looked from the sandwich to Mikan back to the sandwich.

"Take it," she told him.

"You probably put something in it," commented Natsume and turned back to his manga.

"I did not!" she yelled. "You're hungry, aren't you?"

He _was _hungry. He wondered how she noticed. Natsume hesitantly took the sandwich from her hands. "

"Thank you." It was the first time that he ever thanked someone.

"Right!" she exclaimed. "My dad makes the best sandwiches! They're the best in the whole wide world!"

He gobbled it down in huge bites, not even bothering to savor the taste, but it did taste like the best sandwich in the whole world. Not because her dad made it though. It was a whole different reason.

_End of Grade 1_

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**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW. :D. ADIEU!**


	2. Grade Two

**Author's Note/Rant/Whatever: Hi Guys! It's been a whole week! Last year Halloween was so fun. There was this girl who was dressed up in black to scare people. She was lying on the ground, and I'm all like "Hi buddy!" (I even waved haha) and then she grabbed my candy bag! Oh my god! D:**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, GA does not belong to me, but at least I can still write fanfics :D**

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**Grade 2  
Halloween**

"So it's me, Koko, Ruka-sama, Kitsuneme-kun, Mikan, and Otonashi-san," commented Sumire with a heavy sigh.

"Yup!" Koko exclaimed, watching the game of Big Two between Natsume and Mikan.

Sumire joined them. "Are you sure that you don't want to come Trick or Treating with us, Natsume-sama?"

He slapped down an ace of spades. "No."

Mikan stared down at her cards in frustration. "Pass."

"If you pass, I win," Natsume warned her.

She threw down her cards and sighed. "You always win, Natsume."

He shrugged and started shuffling them. Mikan watched with curiosity as the cards stacked one on top of another like a sandwich. Her eyes widened and her mouth gasped in amazement.

"That's so cool!" she yelled, "How do you do that?"

"You break the deck in half and take each half in your hand like this," Koko instructed as he took the deck from Natsume, who glared at him for taking Mikan's attention. "And you bend them a little and let go slowly let them go."

Mikan listened with all her attention. "Amazing! Can I try?"

Koko handed her the deck and she made it into two groups and held them with her hands. She scrunched her eyebrows and tried to bend them, but she bent them too much and the cards all went flying.

"Ahh!" Mikan screamed as she quickly picked them all up.

"Don't worry!" assured Koko, "It takes practice."

She tried again, but this time, she forgot to bend them and dropped both groups at the same time. "Oops."

Natsume sighed as she unsuccessfully tried to shuffle the deck of cards for the fifth time. Mikan had on a frustrated face as she separated the deck of cards into two once again. Koko was at her side, giving her advice. Sumire crossed her arms and watched.

"That's not how you do it," Natsume snapped and got up.

He took her hands in his and showed her how to do it. She brightened up as they stacked properly. She broke the deck into two and did it by herself this time.

Mikan turned and beamed at him. "Thank you Natsume!"

He looked away. "Hn."

"I thought we were talking about this afternoon," Sumire snapped.

"I'll be there, Permy," commented Mikan. She would never miss out on Halloween!

"Who gave you permission to call me that?" she demanded.

Mikan ignored her and turned to Natsume. "Are you sure that you don't want to go with us?"

He turned back to her. "Yes."

She frowned. "Why?"

"Halloween is stupid."

"No it's not!" gasped Mikan.

"I hate Halloween."

"You hate everything," she huffed.

"All you do is dress up and get candy. That's so lame," he retorted.

"You know what?" Sumire announced, "Natsume-sama is totally right! Maybe I'll cancel after all!"

Everyone froze and turned to her.

"C-cancel?" Yura Otonashi's voice shook.

Koko got up and dragged Sumire away by the ear into a corner.

"Ow, ow, ow!" she screamed. "Let go of my ear!"

"Don't worry!" he announced to the class. "Trick or Treating is still on!"

Everyone cheered.

Sumire folded her arms. "Hey, who are you to deci-"

He stuck his face barely an inch from hers and had a menacing yet smiley expression on that freaked her out. "_Right_, Permy?"

She backed away into the corner. "F-fine! I wasn't really going to cancel anyway!"

Everyone mentally thanked Koko.

Mikan giggled. "You guys are really good friends aren't you?"

Sumire rolled her eyes and huffed, "Good friends? No way!"

Koko just grinned.

* * *

Mikan did a twirl and waved her orange plastic wand. Inside the mirror, there was a fairy in an orange dress and glittery orange wings. She grinned to herself in excitement.

A knock came from her door.

"Come in!"

The doorknob turned and in marched a devil. Tsubasa was all dressed up too. He had horns on his head and had on a cape that was black on the outside and red on the inside. He was wearing all black.

"Tsubasa onii-chan!" she called and ran to gave him a hug.

In return to her hug, he petted her on the head and chuckled. "How's my cute fairy?"

"We're going to get so much candy!" exclaimed Mikan.

"Well, be careful," he told her. "If you eat too much candy, you might get a cavity."

She suddenly remembered something and showed him her teeth. There was a tooth missing. "Look! I'm changing my teeth!"

"You really are, aren't you?" he commented.

She nodded. "What about onii-chan?"

He flashed his shiny white teeth at her. "I'm already done changing all of my teeth."

She punched him playfully and he blocked her with his hand.

"Have fun tonight," he stated, "And be safe. Don't eat any candy until you come home."

She nodded and they went downstairs.

"Nine degrees tonight with a slight chance of rainfall. Right now, the weather is-" The television was turned off.

"Hmm. Maybe you should bring an umbrella with you," Tsubasa suggested.

"Nonsense!" their father cried from the living room. The blond haired ladylike man got up from the couch. "The Otonashis can predict the weather better than the weather channel! And look outside! There's not a single cloud in the sky!"

Tsubasa was just about to tell Narumi that clouds could form, travel, and change very quickly, but Narumi shooed them out the door.

"Have fun now, kids!"

The door slammed shut and locked.

"Stupid Naru!" Tsubasa cursed and took Mikan by the hand. "Let's go."

He took her to Sumire's house and was about to leave.

"Who is onii-chan Trick or Treating with?" Mikan asked.

"Kaname and Misaki."

Mikan beamed. She'd met Tsubasa's friends at recess in school and she liked them very much. She could tell that they liked her too. Misaki was ecstatic to have a "little sister". "Well have fun then!"

He nodded and left.

She rang the doorbell and waited. Sumire soon opened the door and let her in. She was dressed up as a witch. Everyone else was in her living room, watching TV. Koko and Kitsuneme were twin elves, Ruka was a prince and Yura was a ghost.

"You're late!" Sumire snapped.

"Sorry, Permy."

She rolled her eyes. "Now we can finally go."

"Are your parents taking us?" asked Mikan.

"No," she told her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "My parents are going to a party. They're pretty well known, you know? My parents' friend is taking us. He's fifteen and in high school!"

"Hey guys, you ready to go?" A dark longhaired man came down the stairs with seven empty plastic bags.

"Tono-sempai!" Mikan exclaimed and ran toward him.

Akira Tonouchi dropped all his bags and grabbed Mikan's tiny hands in his. He swung her in a circular motion and she giggled.

Everyone else in the room sweat-dropped.

"You know him!?" demanded Sumire.

He put her down on the ground. "I used to baby-sit her and Tsubasa when they were really small."

"Tsubasa as in the popular troublemaker in grade six?" she gasped.

"He's my brother!" Mikan exclaimed.

"Life is unfair," Sumire whined. "How come Mikan knows all the cute guys?"

Tono picked up the bags. "Come on guys, let's go!"

* * *

"Please behave normally," Sumire commented when Mikan started skipping down the streets in excitement.

"It's candy, Permy!" she exclaimed. "The faster we go, the more we get!"

She rolled her eyes. "I bet you just want to go to the Fluff Puffs shop."

Upon hearing that, Mikan's eyes sparkled and she drooled. "Fluff Puffs…" She drifted off into one of her remote fantasies and dropped her bag of Candy on the floor.

"Isn't she cute when she does that?" Koko whispered to Ruka, who nodded a few times.

Sumire glared at them.

Tono looked up as the moon was covered by a wall of cumulonimbus clouds. He picked up the bag Mikan dropped and scurried ahead. "Hurry up now! It looks like it's going to rain soon. Let's head back."

"But daddy said-"

He sighed. "Mikan, just between you and me-" Tono looked around to see twelve other pairs of eyes staring at him "-and everyone else here, your dad is an idiot. Come on, let's go."

"Can we at least drop by at the Fluff Puff shop first?" she asked.

He sighed and looked at her teary eyes. He really couldn't resist this kid. "Ok."

They went to the Fluff Puff shop first and each got a mini box of Fluff Puffs. Mikan opened hers and took out one. Her brother told her not to eat any candy until she got home, but one wouldn't hurt. Besides, Tono was taking them all home anyway. She nibbled on it slowly and started falling behind.

Mikan finished her candy and licked her lips. She looked up to see strangers hurrying off to enter their homes, but she couldn't see Tono or her friends anywhere. Tsubasa had once told her that if she ever got lost, she should stay in one place so that they could find her. She nervously took shelter under a tree and watched as people disappeared into their houses. Everyone else was too busy getting to shelter before the rain stared drizzling to notice a seven year old, confused and lost.

The rain started drizzling down. First it was just drops, but soon it started to come down heavily. Even under the shelter of the tree, Mikan became drenched. The streets were empty now, and Tono still hadn't come back for her. She sat down and hugged her knees, all drenched and alone during the storm.

Then came the lightning and thunder. First it was just rumbling in the distance, but as the rumbles became louder, she saw the flashes in the sky. Mikan got up and left the tree. It wasn't safe to stay under a tree during thunderstorms. She could worry about getting home later. She had to find shelter from the storm first. Every time the thunder clashed and the lightning flashed, she could feel her heartbeat speed up.

Mikan was frightened. Tears started spilling out of her eyes and she started running. Everywhere she went, there were only houses and trees. She remembered glancing in one window and seeing kids her age laugh and count their candy. She remembered how much she looked forward to Halloween. So why did it turn out to be like this?

She clashed into someone and fell back, spilling her candy all over the pavement.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed without looking up, afraid to see who she hit. What if it was a really mean person and he became angry with her?

"What's your problem?"

She recognized that voice. Mikan dropped the bag and hugged him tightly, burying her head into his shoulder. She clenched onto him so tightly that even if she died right there on the spot, he was sure that she wouldn't let go.

"Natsume, I'm scared!" she cried between the sobs. "I'm scared!"

She kept repeating that for several times and in the end, she just broke down sobbing.

The thunder clashed once more, making her yelp and sob harder.

He patted her on the back and instructed, "Calm down first. Let's go find some shelter."

She let of him and nodded, picking up her bag.

They ran to a nearby park with a tube that was big enough to hold several children. They crept in it and waited for the rain to stop.

She was still hiccupping from her sobs. "I-hic- got –hic- I got lost- hic-."

"I figured out that much," he replied.

She shivered. "Natsume, -hic- I'm cold."

He looked at the girl next to him. She was a mess. Her hair was wet and tangled and her costume was soaked. Mikan was shivering and hugging her legs.

He held out a hand. "Come."

She stared at him, perplexed.

"You said you were cold, right? It's warmer when we're close together."

She nodded and scooted over to him. He put an arm around her.

"Natsume, why were you in the rain?" asked Mikan.

"I was going over to Ruka's."

"Huh?"

"You see," Natsume explained, "My dad has an anger issue, but instead of beating you, he throws you out of his house. He's been doing it to me since I was three. He used to do it to my mom too. Every time he did that, we'd always go over to the Nogis'. Their house is like our second home."

"So that's how you met Ruka-pyon?"

"Pretty much."

She gave him a mild smile and he raised his eyebrow. "I'm just happy that you're willing to share your story with me. There's so much I don't know about you, Natsume."

He nodded and looked away.

"I'm sort of happy that your dad chased you out of the house. Don't get me wrong! I'm not asking him to or anything, but if he didn't, I wouldn't have met up with you tonight."

He looked back at her. "Yeah, me too."

She pulled out her box of Fluff Puffs and took one out. They were all wet and jumbled up. She popped it into her mouth and it left a pink mark on her finger.

"Want one?" she offered.

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

She sighed and slowly ate the whole box of wet Fluff Puffs. His eyes watched her every movement: how she took them out of the box, when she popped it into her mouth and had that heavenly expression on her face, and when she licked her fingers and giggled.

"Natsume, look here!" she exclaimed.

He turned and she stuffed the last one inside of his mouth. It was sweet and sticky and wet and disgusting. He swallowed it with difficulty and glared at her for doing that.

"Hehe, you should have seen your face!" she laughed.

"Don't ever do that again!" he growled but he was almost one hundred percent positive that she would.

"Look, the rain's letting up!" she exclaimed.

Sure enough, the sky was clearing and the dim moonlight illustrated the features of the landscape.

She took her Halloween bag in one hand and his hand in the other. "Let's go find the others!"

They ran back to the place where she got left behind and sure enough, there was a frantic Tono screaming her name.

"Tono-sempai!" she cried and ran over to him.

He hugged her in relief. "Mikan! I'm so relieved! You don't know how much you scared me!"

"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, "I was scared too, but Natsume helped me."

He let go of her and looked to Natsume, who was glaring at him.

"Oh!" Tono exclaimed, "Hey, mini kiddo!"

"Get lost, you old geezer," he commented and looked away.

Tono looked at him amusedly.

"Hey, I'm going to Ruka's," he told her.

She nodded and waved to him as he left them. "Bye Natsume!"

"Hey, are you sure that it's safe to let a seven year old wander around at this time on his own?" Tono questioned, eyebrow raised.

"No problem!" she exclaimed. "Natsume's been doing this since he was three!"

All that did was made Tono worry even more.

"Natsume's fine! He doesn't need people to worry about him!"

He saw the confident look on Mikan's face as she watched him leave. They obviously had a strong bond between them. Tono scrunched up his face in confusion and only one thought ran through his head at the moment.

_Are seven year olds really capable of falling in love?_

_End of Grade 2_

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**Haha. The three year old thing was unrealistic. The chances of a three year old walking around alone in a neighbourhood is highly unlikely, but hey, what can you say? It's Natsume. Anything's possible with him. x]**

**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW :D**

**-IndigoGrapefruit**


	3. Grade Three

**Author's Random Note Slash Life That You May Skip If You Want: Ok. Wow. I bet ya'll thought that I was going to write about Valentine's Day. You did, didn't you? :D Nah, it's not Valentine's Day for them. Yet. CoughcoughIdidnotsayanythingcoughhackcough.**

**Disclaimer: I can barely draw Mikan and you're asking me whether I own Gakuen Alice or not? You're making me sad. D:**

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**Grade 3  
Transfer Student**

Mikan sighed as she gathered around her group of friends and Koko was deemed "Simon" and announced that each person had to stand on one leg for a minute. Not even thirty seconds passed and Mikan lost balance and fell. She joined Ruka, who was shaking his head at her clumsiness at the bench that the people who were "out" were sitting on.

"What's wrong?" Ruka asked her.

"I wish Natsume is in our class this year," she commented, glancing that the door. "It's so boring here without him."

"We still play together at recess, don't we?" he replied.

"Yeah," she sighed, "But still… that's not the same as being classmates."

Ruka remembered the time in grade one when Natsume became antisocial and couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing," he replied and looked to the door also, "I was just thinking that Natsume might be lonely without you too."

Surprise and cheerfulness lit up Mikan's face. "Really?"

"Most likely."

"Damn it!" Sumire had on a scowl as she got out and sat beside them. She crossed her arms and legs and gritted her teeth and hissed, "Stupid Koko just had to pick on me! He _obviously _knows that I can't keep my hair straight." She stretched out her hair and let go. It immediately curled up again and she growled in anger. "I swear. He's been picking on me ever since I got my hair permed."

"Don't say bad words," Mikan told her.

She glared at her. "'Damn' isn't swearing. Didn't your parents teach you _anything_?"

Mikan frowned. She didn't like it when her parents were brought into the conversation. Narumi might be an egghead and/or a crossdresser, but she still loved him as a dad. "Anyways, you said he's been picking on you since your hair was permed, but that was three years ago."

"So?"

"You didn't know Koko three years ago."

"You didn't either."

"I knew Koko first though," Mikan commented.

"Your point?" Sumire snapped back.

Mikan opened her mouth to argue, but Ruka interrupted, "I knew Koko since we were two, so don't either of you argue with me."

"How long have you known Natsume?" asked Mikan.

"Before we knew how to talk."

"Wow so you were like one year old!?"

"Not even."

"Well anyway!" Sumire interrupted, sensing that the conversation seemed to go on without her, "I heard from my mom that her old friend is going to move back here, and they have a kid in our grade."

"Maybe he'll be in our class!" exclaimed Mikan.

"What makes you so sure that it's a _he_?" snapped Sumire.

"It's not?" asked Ruka.

"I don't know." Her tone softened when she talked to Ruka. "But I hope it's a girl."

"But it doesn't matter if it's a he or a she!" protested Mikan, "We can still all be friends."

Sumire shook her head and sighed, "How do you ever get around with this idiot around you all the time, Ruka-sama?" She left.

Mikan clasped her hands and grinned in excitement. "Wow! A transfer student!"

* * *

Natsume felt two warm hands cover his eyes. He immediately scowled, thinking that it was one of his fan girls. Didn't they have better things to do than bugging him 24/7? Like for starters, how 'bout getting a life?

"Guess who it is!" the sunny voice exclaimed.

His scowl turned into a smirk and he poked her in the stomach. Both her hands immediately flew to that spot. "Ow! No fair, Natsume! That hurts!"

He turned back to see the pigtailed brunette, her huge teary eyes and her frown. He couldn't help but to tease her. "Don't worry. You've got lots of fat. You'll survive."

Her mouth dropped open. "Jerk! Didn't your mother tell you never to insult a girl's weight?"

"That has nothing to do with this," he replied, "I never even insulted your weight; I _indirectly _insulted your weight, moron. And my mother's dead."

She looked as if she had just shot someone in the head with a gun. Mikan gasped, "I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have said that!"

He turned away and gave a slight shrug. "Doesn't matter. Never got to know her much anyway."

Nonetheless, that formed a tense atmosphere between them. She fidgeted; Mikan didn't like it when things got silent between them. It made her feel like grade one. It made her desperate to fill in the silence.

"Hey," she said, "Did you know there's going to be a transfer student? Sumire told me!"

He rolled his eyes when she mentioned the most obsessed fan girl and biggest gossiper he had ever known in his life. Sumire Shoulda was always the first in town to know any new scandals, bribes or news. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Why aren't you?"

He shook his head and sighed. "Never mind."

* * *

Twenty pairs of heads turned as the short raven-haired violet-eyed boy walked into the room. Or was it a girl? They couldn't tell. He or she appeared to be stoic and his or her eyes flickered across the room and stared at every single person. Somehow, the student was able to intimidate everyone by just being in the room.

"This is our new student," their third grade homeroom, Fukutan introduced, "_Her _name is Hotaru Imai."

Sumire turned to Mikan with a "see? told you so" look. Mikan paid her no mind. She was staring at the girl with shining eyes and started waving like an idiot when Hotaru turned her way.

"Who's that?" Hotaru whispered to the teacher, "She looks like an idiot."

"Oh, that's Mikan Sakura. Do you want to sit next to her?"

"No."

"But that's the only vacant desk left," he protested nervously.

"Too bad."

"Please?"

"I'll sit if you give me 5 dollars," she offered, her eyes boring into the teacher's. "So, how about it?"

"How about a piece of candy?"

"How about you give me 10 dollars?" Hotaru said.

"Are you making this hard on me on purpose?"

"Yes."

Fukutan reluctantly handed her 10 dollars. Hotaru smiled to herself as she felt the bill crinkle in her hand. _Pft, easy money. _She strolled down the row casually and sat in the empty desk beside the brunette.

"Hi, I'm Mikan Sakura!"

"I've heard," commented Hotaru stoically.

"Nice to meet you!" she exclaimed.

She nodded but didn't respond. Hotaru was busy opening her notebook, which was filled with complex numbers, signs, and equations. There was a chart on one page that had two columns labeled _profits_ and _losses_. She took out her pencil and added $10 to the profits column. Mikan peered her way in interest and Hotaru snapped her notebook shut.

Mikan crossed her arms, slumped back against her seat and pouted. What was up with antisocial people nowadays? "You know, you remind me of someone I know."

Hotaru turned to her stoically, but showed no interest.

Mikan sighed. "He never answers me, and when he does, it's always one worded answers."

"Don't compare me with those people," Hotaru stated icily. Obviously, she was superior to them.

She shrugged. "Oh well! There are all sorts of people in the world."

"Optimist."

She blinked. "What does that mean?"

Hotaru tapped her lightly on the head. "Dummy."

"You use such big words!" she exclaimed, "Of course I won't know!"

"Then learn. That's what you're here for, isn't it? It looks like I'll be stuck with pea-brained children for a while."

She gave a long sigh that seemed short at the same time and turned to the front. Mikan stared at her stoic poker face, but she deciphered the boredom and frustration Hotaru was feeling deep inside. Mikan grinned. She had a feeling that they were going to be good lifelong friends.

* * *

"Where the hell is she?" Natsume sounded and looked absolutely murderous. "She was supposed to meet with us fifteen minutes ago!"

"She's with the transfer student," informed Ruka, who had a good idea of why Natsume was so frustrated. He looked up and saw two figures. "See, there they come."

Mikan was dragging Hotaru by the arm and waving towards them. Hotaru looked reluctant to come, but she let Mikan do whatever she wanted. Her stoic expression contrasted Mikan's bright and sunny one. Clearly, anyone who paid them the slightest mind would see that the two children were the exact opposites in terms of personality.

"Hi!" Mikan exclaimed, "Meet Hotaru!"

"_That's _the reason you're late?" Natsume hissed and clenched his fists. He thought that Hotaru was a guy. It made him frustrated that she was hanging out with guys other than him and Ruka.

"I presume that's the guy you were talking about?" Hotaru questioned.

Ruka and Mikan both raised an eyebrow at the same time.

_Smartass, _Natsume thought venomously. _What a show off._

Hotaru sighed and simplified the sentence for them. "I'm guessing that he's the one you were talking about earlier."

"Yep!" she exclaimed happily.

Natsume growled and dragged her by the arm. "Let's go."

Mikan blinked but she let herself be dragged by him. "Um, sure…What about Hotaru and Ruka-pyon?"

"Who gives a damn?!"

"What's with the damns these days!?"

After they left, Ruka looked from the distant Natsume to Hotaru back to Natsume. Hotaru kept her poker face on the whole time and it was sure working. Ruka couldn't tell what she was thinking at all.

"Sorry," he nervously apologized, "Natsume's a bit angry today. I don't know why though…"

"Doesn't matter," she told him and pulled out a camera. "I have better things to do."

"Hey," Ruka told her, "You're not supposed to bring electronics to school."

Hotaru glared at him. "Yes you are."

He shook his head a few times and she rolled her eyes.

"You just don't get found out."

* * *

"Natsume, where are we going?" Mikan asked as he hurriedly pulled her away.

"I'm taking you to my secret hangout," he hissed. "So you'd better not tell anyone else."

He was calming down now that they were away from that "guy". That was a good sign.

She gasped in amazement. "Wow! You've got a secret hangout?! How come you've never told me?" Nonetheless, she was glad that he trusted her enough to even tell her. "Hey, Natsume, why are you in such a bad mood today?"

He flinched. So she _had _noticed after all. "No particular reason."

She frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"Shut up and walk," snapped Natsume.

Mikan shut up, mostly because she knew that even if she continued to pry, he would say nothing. She felt him squeeze her hand tighter as if he was afraid to let go of her. She closed her eyes and felt the breeze. Something soft landed on her face. Mikan opened her eyes and took it in her free hand. It was a pink petal. She looked up and saw the grand Sakura tree. It was in full bloom and its roots stretched out in a way that formed a natural chair. And sitting on the chair was a little girl, playing with petals.

"It's beautiful!" Mikan exclaimed. "Natsume, who's that?"

"Aoi, what are you doing here?" he asked.

She looked up and beamed. "Onii-chan!"

Mikan gasped. "Are you Natsume's sister?"

Aoi smiled and nodded. "And you're his friend right? He told me about you!"

"Yup!" They could both see that she was quite proud of the fact that she was his friend, to Natsume's dismay and Aoi's contentment.

"Onii-chan, here," Aoi said and placed a Sakura flower in Natsume's hair.

Mikan giggled. "Oh my god, he looks so cute!"

Natsume sighed, flicked it off, and discarded it. "Never call a guy cute."

She stuck out her tongue at him. "Well you called me fat, so too bad."

"Onii-chan, you promised to play with me today," Aoi reminded him, disappointed with the lack of attention she was getting.

"Aoi, I'm busy," Natsume told her.

She made a puppy-dog face. "Please?"

Natsume looked over to Mikan, who was humming and filling the seat with soft fallen petals. "That's ok! You guys can go ahead! I'll be fine by myself!"

Aoi took her brother's hand and dragged him toward her friends. He kept looking back at Mikan, but she was occupied every time he glanced at her and therefore did not notice him. After a while, he saw her leave the tree and started to feel anxious. What if she went back to that "guy"?

He chatted with some of Aoi's friends absentmindedly. They were all nice girls and he knew it was rude not to pay full attention to them, but it was something he couldn't help but do. Natsume turned back and saw Hotaru and Mikan at the tree. Mikan was smiling and putting flowers in Hotaru's hair, while "he" just sat there with "his" usual stoic face.

Natsume growled and clenched his fist. He felt betrayed by her.

Aoi put a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong, onii-chan?"

Natsume shook her hand off and stomped back to the Sakura tree.

"Who told you to go and share it with someone else?" he growled as he pulled Mikan away by her pigtails.

"Ow, Natsume!" she screamed. "That hurts! Hotaru, help me!"

"Tsk!" He could hear her cries, but he just tugged harder until tears filled her eyes. How _dare _she ask someone else for help?

"Stop!"

When he was sure that they were finally out of sight of Hotaru, he let her go. By this point, her face was stained with tears. He wanted to hug her like he did last year on Halloween, but a part of him was still furious at her.

"Tell me," he hissed, put both hands on her shoulder and forced her to face him. "Is he a better guy than me? Is he?!?!"

"What are you talking about?" she cried.

"Why the hell did you share my secret hideout with him?!" snarled Natsume.

"Who's he?" questioned Mikan.

"That Imai guy."

"Natsume," she told him, "Hotaru is a girl."

Natsume's eyes widened for a second. He sunk to his knees. So all this time, he had been jealous of a _girl_? He'd been had.

Mikan blinked. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He couldn't quite hide the relief in his voice, not that she could comprehend anything out of it anyway. Good thing she was an idiot.

"Good!" Mikan exclaimed and beamed. She held out a hand to him. "Let's go!"

This time, _she _was dragging him back to the Sakura tree. Hotaru was there, waiting for them.

"I'll get Aoi-chan to come too! And Ruka-pyon!" Mikan shouted, "So we can all play Ring Around the Rosie!"

She ran in Aoi's direction.

Hotaru turned to him and commented, "So you're Hyuuga."

"Yea."

Her sharp violet eyes pierced into his. "I really hate you, you know why?"

He shook his head.

She looked toward Mikan. "You're all that idiot ever talks about."

_End Of Grade 3_

* * *

**Natsume needs glasses. Lol. I laughed so hard at that when one of my friends told me that after she read the story.**

**So, uh, yeah REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW AND I WILL LOVE YOU**

**Happy Valentine's Day**

**-IndigoGrapefruit**


	4. Grade Four

**Indigo's Random Life Corner: I. Am. Finally. Finished. -rejoicing- I _died_ drawing my KokoxSumire (My fav couple! Yes, sorry to dissapoint you, but my favourite paring is not NxM, even though I seem to be writing a lot about them. NxM should be somewhere down my list after KxS and TxM and maybe some others...) picture. Literally died (but mostly because I stayed up until one to finish it and suffered from lack of sleep the next day). All that's left to do now is to outline, erase, copy, colour, shade, scan, resize, post up... Oh joy.**

**Disclaimer: Uh, does owning fan art of Gakuen Alice count? No. Didn't think so.**

* * *

**Grade 4  
The Consequences of Not Paying Attention**

It was the last few minutes of the last class of the day, Science, and the fourth graders were bored. Why, oh why did they have to learn about rocks? Why not Space? At least you get to hear your teacher talk about stars blowing up. Rocks were just… rocks. Plain, old and boring.

While their teacher was lecturing about the difference between rocks and minerals, Mikan gave a huge yawn and felt a sharp object hit the back of her head. She steered her head around and saw a paper plane below her chair, its tip scrunched up badly. She lazily leaned back, picked it up, and unfolded it.

_So unladylike… just what I expected of you, moron.  
__-Natsume_

"What the hell!" she exclaimed and stood up. Everyone's attention diverted to her, including the teacher. Mikan quickly covered her mouth and gasped, "Oops."

"Well, Sakura," the teacher commented and snatched the paper plane away from her. He dropped a heavy bag of rocks of all shapes and sizes on her desk. "Since you are too occupied with your gossip to pay attention to my class, why don't you sort these rocks here into the groups of Sedimentary, Metamorphic and Igneous for your own personal homework?"

Sedimentary? Metamorphic? Igneous? Mikan didn't even know how they were spelt let alone what they meant.

But the teacher was not done. He walked to Natsume's desk and threw down the plane. "And you, Hyuuga, can help her, since the lesson _obviously _doesn't apply to you seeing you know _so _much." Natsume did not miss the sarcasm in his voice. "By the way, I'll have you know that name calling is not allowed in my classroom."

The bell, which marked the end of another school day, rang and all the students departed except for Mikan and Natsume. Their science teacher picked up the chalkboard eraser and started cleaning the dirty blackboard.

And that was when Natsume spoke out, "Alright, look here. I understand the assignment, but why do I have to work with an idiot like her?"

"Because you two were disrupting my class and not paying attention," he replied without turning once to them. "And most of all, you were not showing respect to me, to your peers, or to each other."

Natsume ignored that comment. "Couldn't you at least put me together with someone who doesn't think photosynthesis is the synthesis of photos?"

Mikan crossed her arms in an annoyed matter. "I know what it is, ok? It has something to do with plants, sunlight, thingie, er… Anyway, I'm not an idiot, so stop calling me that!"

"You don't seem to understand," their teacher replied in an impatient tone and placed the chalkboard eraser back on the ledge. "This work is punishment for what you did in my class, and partially because I don't feel like staying behind to give you detention. It's not supposed to be fun. Now scoot out of my classroom, or I'll add one more bag."

Natsume rolled his eyes and left with his backpack sloppily hanging on one shoulder. With difficulty, Mikan lifted her backpack, the huge bag of rocks and ran out of the door after him, screaming, "Slow down, Natsume! God sakes! It's all your fault in the first place!"

"Just be glad," he snapped back, "Since I'll be doing most of the work for you anyway, with you being an idiot and all that…"

"God, Natsume!" she huffed and stopped, "I'm not an idiot!"

He stopped in front of her. "Yes you are, now hurry up."

She saw Hotaru passing by and sped toward her. "Hotaru! Hotaru!"

Somewhat amazingly out of impulse, Hotaru smacked Mikan in the face with her fist and Mikan fell back on her bum, rubbing the red spot on her forehead. "Ow, Hotaru! That was mean."

The apathetic girl was busy dusting her hands off.

Mikan stood up. "Hey, Hotaru, I'm not an idiot right? What Natsume said, it isn't true, is it?"

There was a pause. "Mikan," Hotaru commented, still dusting her hands off.

"Hmm?"

"So a square has four corners. So if you cut one off, how many does it have?"

"Three!" she blurted out spontaneously.

Hotaru turned to Natsume and nodded. "Yup, she's an idiot. Good luck, Hyuuga."

"Wha-wha-" Mikan yelled in response to the triumphant smirk that appeared on Natsume's face. "Why's everyone teaming up on me?!!?!"

* * *

The bag of rocks made a screeching sound as Mikan dragged them on the sidewalk. She sighed for the fifteenth time since they left the school. Natsume looked at her pathetic state. Her head drooped down so much that her pigtails were almost dragging on the sidewalk along with the bag of rocks. She sure was down in the dumps.

"Are you still pissed that Imai took my side?" he asked.

"Natsume why do you keep calling me an idiot?" she replied.

"Do not respond to my question with another question."

"Fine." And after a moment of hesitation, she continued, "But really, why _do _you call me an idiot?"

"You are one, aren't you?"

"Ok!" she lifted her head, obviously pissed off, and screamed, "I may not be as bright as you, but you don't have to shove it in my face, you know?! We've known each other for three years and you still haven't called me by my name once! Remember in grade two, the teacher made you take attendance and instead of calling me 'Mikan' like you should, you screamed out 'Moron' in front of everyone!?!?"

"And you didn't even know what 'moron' is."

"Exactly!" she huffed, "You made me so embarrassed!"

"I got detention for doing that, you know?"

"Good for you! And even if you don't want to call me by name, you could have at least call me 'Miki' or something like Misaki-sempai does!"

"In case you didn't know," he snorted, "Guys don't give out _cute _nicknames."

"Hmph!"

They approached the crossroad where Natsume was supposed to turn. But instead, he walked straight along with Mikan. At first, she ignored him, but after a while, she blurted out, "Where are you going? Your house is that way!"

"I know."

"Then where?"

"Your house, idiot!" he said, "We're going to finish the assignment that stupid teacher gave us, aren't we?"

"There you go with the name calling again!"

Natsume rolled his eyes. "You should be honoured that I'm calling you an idiot."

She pouted. "How?"

"Idiots are…" He trailed off.

"Idiots are what?"

"Idiots…not telling."

"What!" she exclaimed, "What!! Not fair, Natsume! Tell me!"

"Shut up and walk."

"Tell mee!"

"You're going to fall behind.

"TELL ME!!!"

* * *

Tsubasa heard the doorbell ring and opened the door for his sister. Right outside was Mikan and her bouncy pigtails.

"Tsubasa-oniichan!" she exclaimed and ran to give him a hug.

He petted her like he usually did when she hugged him. Today, however, there was an addition. Tsubasa felt a jab to his leg.

"How long are you going to hug her dammit?" he heard a growl and looked up to see an angry crimson-eyed boy. "It's disgusting. Looks like you're going to swallow her."

Mikan frowned at his rudeness.

Tsubasa scowled and turned to his sister. "Mikan, who's this brat?"

Mikan looked up at her brother and told him, "Natsume's my friend! We have to do a project together. I'm sorry for not asking you first."

Tsubasa glared at Natsume, who glared back. Unknown to Mikan, there was a silent guy-to-guy discussion happening between them.

"I'm not handing her over to you," Tsubasa mentally snapped.

"You hug her so intimately even though you're siblings," Natsume mentally snapped back. "How disgusting."

Mikan blinked. _Are they having a staring contest?_ "Come on! Let's go in already!"

They entered the house and there was a delicious aroma of cookies that came from the kitchen. Mikan sniffed it in and an ecstatic smile crept unconsciously over her face. Natsume covered his nose, disgusted.

"It reeks of sugar."

Mikan raised her eyebrow. Who knew sugar had a smell? Or maybe Natsume just had a keen nose. "You don't like sugar?"

"I don't like sweet stuff," he growled.

"Anyone who hates sweets is not allowed to like my sister," interrupted Tsubasa.

Natsume glared at him; Mikan blinked obliviously.

"What are you talking about, onii-chan?"

"Nothing. By the way, Naru made your favourite sugar cookies."

Her eyes glittered and her mouth watered. "I want some!"

"Come on then," said Tsubasa and made a gesture that indicated that Natsume was obviously not invited.

_Like I care, _Natsume thought and scowled at him.

But before they could go anywhere, a blond adult with blue eyes wearing a pink apron decorated with even more pink hearts in every shade of pink possible came in the living room. He was extremely womanly for a man.

"Mikan!" he exclaimed and launched for her, and seeing the boy beside her, he immediately backed away into the furthest corner of the room with hands over his mouth and an expression that was somewhere between overwhelmed and horrified.

"Your mom?" Natsume whispered.

"My dad," corrected Mikan.

Natsume nodded silently. He could begin to see the connection there.

"OH MY GOD!" Narumi exclaimed loudly and ran around the living room in circles with hands up in the air as if it was the end of the world. "Oh my god! Oh my god!!!! Mikan brought home a boy!!"

He dashed over to Tsubasa, who instantly backed against the wall. Unbelievably, Narumi pointed to Mikan, and started scolded him. "You see? You see?!!? You should be more like her! Your sister's only in fourth grade and she already brought home a boy! You're in middle school, but you don't even have a girlfriend yet!" He made a desperate face and made crazy gestures with his hands that made Tsubasa back away against the wall further, if possible. "You want to grow up and be a freaking prude!?!"

He turned his head and expression one hundred and eighty degrees around and made his way to Natsume, with a smile so bright and creepily that the nine-year-old's face was nearly sweating. Narumi took his hand, and shook it frantically until finally he had to yank it out of the insane man's hands and glare at him with full force.

"Do not touch me!"

"Daddy, you're scaring him!" Mikan cried. "He's just over for an assignment!"

Narumi immediately made a puppy dog face and Natsume rolled his eyes.

"Who would have thought that idiocy is contagious?"

"What do you mean?" asked Mikan.

"Well," Natsume explained. "_You_'re an idiot."

She frowned at his remark.

He looked to the insane womanly blond man wearing the pink apron with hearts on it. "Your father's _obviously _an idiot."

Narumi put a hand to his mouth and giggled like a schoolgirl and turned to Mikan. "Did you hear that? He called me an idiot! Kids." He shook his head and sighed. And Mikan almost turned away and buried her face in her hands in embarrassment.

Natsume turned to the spiky dark haired teen. "And your brother's _probably _an idiot too."

Tsubasa snapped a vein. The little brat was enjoying this, wasn't he?! "Oi, Naru! Can I beat him up right now?"

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Narumi, "This is a guest! We must treat him as family! Who knows, maybe he really will be part of our family in the future!"

He skipped into the kitchen, humming. Tsubasa trailed after him, scowling. "No way in hell am I treating him as family! And no fucking way he is going to _become_ family!"

Mikan blinked as they left the living room. She turned to Natsume and tilted her head obliviously. "What are they talking about?"

Natsume rolled his eyes. "No idea," he lied, but couldn't help smirking.

* * *

Natsume twisted the knob and slammed his body against her bedroom door with full force once again. And once again, it didn't budge. He turned and snarled in a murderous tone, "Remind me why we're stuck in your room again?"

Mikan, on the other hand, was on the floor happily dumping the rocks out of the bag and picking out the smooth and shiny ones. "Oh, my dad probably barricaded the door right after we came in. I think he's using the big shelf in his room. Despite his looks, he's quite strong, you know?"

"When's he letting us out then?" he growled.

"When we finish," she replied, and started sorting the sharp ones in another pile.

The raven haired nine year old gave up and sat down beside her. "You're sorting them wrong, you know. They're not supposed to be sorted by texture; they're supposed to be sorted by type. You're jumbling all the Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary rocks together."

She scrunched her eyebrows together and picked up several rocks and examined them closely. "I don't get it. How can you tell them apart?"

"I don't want to bother to explain to you," he replied and made new piles. "It'd take too long, and you wouldn't be able to understand with that puny brain of yours."

"Then why'd you throw that paper plane at me?"

"I was bored."

She crossed her arms. "You totally disrupted my learning, you know?"

"Learning my ass."

"Well fine, I wasn't, but still."

"Why are you blaming me if you weren't even paying attention in the first place?"

"Because you threw the plane!" she told him.

He yelled back, "This has nothing to do with the goddamn plane!"

"Oh."

"Ok, look, I'm only going to say this once, alright?" he stated, "Igneous rocks usually look like they have air bubbles in them because they solidify before the air escapes. Sedimentary rocks have layers. Metamorphic rocks are two rocks morphed together so they should be fairly easy to identify. Do the rest yourself."

"Oh! Now I get it!"

She sorted out all the rocks in the rest of the bag and surprisingly got most of them right. The ones that she missed, he put in the correct group for her.

"Yay! We're all done!"

"Ok," he said, "So tell your dad to let us out."

Her face fell. "I-I can't."

"What?!" he hissed.

"We have to wait until he lets us out."

"You said-"

"I lied," confessed Mikan.

"And why did you lie?" Natsume snarled backing her up into a corner and frightening her. His eyes pierced into hers and she almost tripped with a yelp.

"B-because." She bit her lip and tiny tears started forming in her eyes. "I-" She sunk to her knees. "I-I-" He felt surprisingly weak now that she was breaking down in front of him. He watched her rub her eyes with her fists and sobbing. "I always have to be the good one, Natsume! You just- you just bully me and get away with it! It's always me getting in trouble. It's so unfair! And I'm not saying that you're a bad friend or anything, but it's just- I hate it when you do that! You always make me feel like I'm the only one who wants to be friends!!"

And for the first time, Natsume Hyuuga did not know what to do. He just sort of froze there and stared at her. He could apologize, but his pride wouldn't let him. He could comfort her, but _she _wouldn't let him. He could just stand by and say nothing, but that would only make everything worse. So he sat beside her and let out a light sigh.

"You're such a crybaby." Oops, there goes his big mouth. He was_ really_ digging his own grave. _Good job, _he told himself, _You might as well continue_."Seriously, all I've seen you do is cry all day."

She stopped sobbing and looked like she was about to hit him. At this point, Natsume knew that he was being such a jerk that he would not have cared if she did. She raised her hand and really was about to hit him, but she stopped halfway and fell onto her knees, unable to do it. So instead she cried harder, and he cringed at the pain throbbing in his chest. She could have slapped him. At least it wouldn't have hurt. Not this much.

Natsume looked away. "You know, you're usually an idiot. That I don't mind. I really hate crybabies, though. People's faces look so ugly when they cry. That's why I've never cried in my life. At least an idiot looks cute."

He didn't say sorry. He didn't even comfort her. But somehow, her tears seemed to stop.

* * *

At nine pm, Narumi finally removed the huge bookshelf barricading his daughter's room and opened the door. He found her sleeping peacefully on her bed and her balcony door open. On the floor were three huge piles of rocks that he assumed were what they were supposed to do for homework.

_So he managed to sneak outside, _the mischievous schemer thought, _Damn. _And then he shrugged._ Oh well._

He dragged Mikan's blanket over her petite body and left the room. He did not notice the crumbled up note beside her with messy scrawling that wrote, _you better not cry tomorrow, or I won't think you're cute anymore._

He also did not hear Mikan mumble in her sleep. "Natsume, do you really think my dad and my brother are cute?"

_End of Grade Four._

* * *

**Crap! Mikan thinks he's gay now. o__o**

**And also, isn't it ironic? Natsume's dad shuts him _out_; Mikan's dad shuts her _in_. Wow, both of their fathers must have problems.**

**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW!!! Or else I won't post up my SumixKoko pic (once it's done of course x])!!!**

**-IndigoGrapefruit**


	5. Grade Five

****

Indigo's Random Life Corner: Everyone, I'm back with the fifth grade!! First of all, Janica-bishieee, you owe me reviews :]] and your Youichi pic? Well, I'm workin on it... sorta. Secondly, I just want to state that I'm grateful for the friends I made on FF. This chappie is dedicated to y'all! Ok, xAvengingAngelx/petalsarefallingxoxo a.k.a. Streetzie, you currently hold the status of my #1 review abuser (as always), but only because you have two accounts. ;P

Brace yourself! For my mini moment of self critism, because I just read this whole thing and realized how immature my writing is! I would have to say that Growing Up is my favourite story out of all the stories I wrote so far, but it doesn't really have any plot and is made up of mostly dialogue. But anyway, this is the one story I am determined to finish, and if you know me well, you'd know that I suck at perservering. =P

Disclaimer: If I owned Gakuen Alice, Koko would always be sleeveless. Fortunately, in the manga, Koko is not sleeveless. Unfortunately, I don't own Gakuen Alice. And credits to xAvengingAngelx for coming up with the shortie thing! :D

* * *

**Grade 5  
****Track And Field**

With sparkling eyes, Mikan clasped her two hands together. "It's that time of the year again! I've been looking forward to this all year! This year, I'm finally going to-!"

"Cut out the drama," Hotaru interrupted, "It's just track and field, not the end of the world."

"But Hotaru!" she whined, "It's a day of fairness, sportsmanship, and we get to pin pretty ribbons with sparkling gold font to our shirts!"

"What's the point?" she asked, "Everyone gets a participation ribbon at the end of the day anyway. One ribbon is enough. Apocalypse is more interesting. You get desperate people screaming and running around in circles frantically." Her creepy smile was seriously freaking Mikan out.

"Imai," Ruka informed, "Track and field day is extremely famous at Alice Academy for-"

"I bet $50 that Natsume-sama will have the most ribbons by the end of the day!" Sumire's fan girl squeal came from across the room.

Hotaru whirled her head around 180 degrees, smiling greedily.

"-All the bets that the students make," Ruka finished.

"Well why didn't you say so?" she exclaimed in a freakishly sweet voice. Ding! You could almost see the light bulb appearing on top of her head. Ruka took a few steps back, just to be sure. "Mikan, you're good at sports right?"

"Yup!"

Hotaru came closer. "Better than Hyuuga?"

"W-where are you going with this, Imai?" Ruka demanded and Hotaru gave him a look. To her dismay, that wasn't enough to make him back down. "I'm not letting you use Sakura as a betting tool against Natsume!"

"I heard my name," the cocky voice announced from behind Mikan and she gave a yelp and lost balance.

Natsume was about to steady her with his hand, but someone else did it before her. Hotaru dragged her to her side, gripping her arm protectively. So apparently, the battle from Grade Three hadn't quite ended yet. He let out a scowl, but she showed no apparent emotion.

"Track and field's going to be great, isn't it?" the brunette squealed. "Let's have a competition just between us, to see who can get more ribbons! Just a friendly competition so no hard feelings, ok?"

Ruka squirmed uncomfortably. He could see where this was going, and he didn't like it one bit. The smug look on Hotaru's face really bothered him, and the fact that Mikan was getting involved in deep drama without being aware of it was bothering him even more. Sometimes, he considered telling her, but then again, some things are better off being unknown. Oh if only he could protect her from the two hazards to society (a.k.a. Hotaru and Natsume).

_This is perfect, _Hotaru thought. She had been looking for a chance to get back at Natsume ever since she lost to him two years ago. How convenient that the person they had both been fighting for was the one who brought it all up again? And the fact that Ruka was feeling uncomfortable made her even happier...

As for Natsume, he was practically glaring at everyone: Hotaru for forever being his arch nemesis and for catching Mikan faster than him, Mikan for being the dense idiot that suggested this stupid competition, and Ruka for staying silent. Unfortunately, he wasn't mutated and didn't have three pairs of eyes, so he focused on Hotaru alone.

"This will indeed be an interesting day," the ice queen remarked in a stony voice. "I look forward to your face when you lose to Mikan, Hyuuga."

"That's ok, I don't mind losing to her – not saying that I won't, I mean of course I have no intention whatsoever to lose, just that I don't mind," replied Natusme.

"Are you looking down on me?!" Mikan screamed furiously.

He placed one hand on the top of his head and matched it with his chin. "In case you didn't know, I can _only_ look down on you, shortie. I mean seriously, I thought girls were supposed to have their growth spurt about now. Are you sure you're a girl?"

Now that was insulting. Mikan gasped in horror. "Are you sure you're a guy?!" she shot back.

"Pretty sure. Want to check?"

"Any time!" she growled without any idea what he was talking about.

"Ok!" Ruka huffed, "That's enough! Natsume, can you not bring these kind of things into an argument?"

Seeing that he lost, Natsume reluctantly signed. "Fine, just forget it. I'll see you guys tomorrow at track and field."

Ruka bit his lip and turned away enough for Natsume to be gone from his sight. He was clearly upset. He felt a poke on his shoulder and turned back.

"Ruka-pyon, why are you guys fighting?" Oh the naïveté of this girl!

"It's not really a fight," he replied, "It's just this thing between us guys."

Her mouth dropped to form an O and she nodded slowly. Mikan lifted a finger to her chin and made a face of deep thought. "Hmm, Ruka-pyon, sometimes I wonder if god made me a guy, would I understand you and Natsume better?"

"No!" he yelled. _God! No! Please spare me! I don't want to become gay! And neither does Natsume!_

"No?"

He looked to Hotaru for help, but found her missing. Instead, she was at Sumire's table, no doubt negotiating. He recalled her once telling him that money wouldn't wait. Hold on a second, wasn't it supposed to be time wouldn't wait? He should have known. After all, the almighty Hotaru was granted the ability of warping the most irrelevant things to something money related. His accomplice gone, Ruka had no choice but to improvise.

"Um, I mean, it feels really different to be a guy. I'm sure you would want to stay as a girl." Ruka shook his head disappointedly at his own lame excuse. "Well, have fun tomorrow at track and field I guess. I'll go see what Imai is up to." The poor boy nearly ran away.

"You too Ruka!"

He turned back and saw her smiling face. It was priceless.

* * *

At six thirty in the morning, Mikan Sakura woke up and started jumping around the house, much to a sleeping fifteen year old's dismay. Curious about the commotion, a sleepy Tsubasa came out of his room, rubbing his eyes.

"Tsubasa-nii! Tsubasa-nii!" she exclaimed and embraced him. "Today's track and field! I'm so excited!"

"I can tell," he sighed, "I think I got four hours of sleep last night…"

She looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry…"

"That's ok. Go take a shower. It's going to be hot outside."

She nodded and sprinted off to her closet to find her clothes. She pulled her favourite t-shirt off the hanger. Her gym shorts smelled repulsive, so she had to settle for a pair of tight jean shorts. It would be uncomfortable wearing them, but she wasn't going to wear her sweatpants, not on an extremely hot thirty degree Celsius day like this. Plus, they were black. Next, she pulled open her drawer of undergarments. Mikan ransacked through it four times, but it was full of bras, her pajamas, and old socks with holes. She took out her last pair of clean underwear. It had polka dots on it.

_Oh well, _she thought, _It's not as if someone will see it anyway…_

Oh, how wrong she was!

* * *

By late morning, Hotaru and her scheming managed to get the whole elementary division to split into three sides. Majority, though mostly fan girls, were on Natsume's side and rooted for him. Those who didn't root for Natsume supported Mikan and a small part of the school just didn't care. Already, more than a hundred bets circulated through the division.

Why were they only rooting for Natsume and Mikan? Well as much as she didn't want to, the ugly truth was that it proved to be more of a profit to her. Besides, Mikan could still whip his ass, and if Mikan won, then not only would Hotaru gain a huge ass load of money, but she could hold that over Natsume for the rest of his life. And besides, Ruka owed her one for saving him by letting him drop out.

They supposed to be in line for triple jump at the moment, but Hotaru wanted to talk to Mikan and Ruka so Otonashi and Mochu held their place in the girls' and boys' line for them.

"Mikan, if you win the competition, we'll become rich," Hotaru announced, "And if you lose, you're going to owe me a lot of money."

"Hey!" Ruka huffed, "Why does Sakura-san have to owe you for the money you used to bet?"

"Because if she doesn't, you'll be the one paying it off," Hotaru told him, holding up a camera, "And it will be in pictures."

Ruka surprisingly stood his ground.

"I thought cameras weren't allowed to be brought to school," commented Mikan.

"They are," said Ruka and Hotaru in unison, Ruka in a flat voice and Hotaru in an "isn't it obvious?" tone, "You just don't get caught."

"Anyway, I'm looking forward to the three legged race! Hotaru, want to be my partner?"

"The three legged race was taken off ever since last year," Hotaru stated, shrugging to Mikan's horrified gasp. "There was a girl I think, called Nobara Ibaragi or something, that tripped and sprained her ankle during the three legged race two years ago, and her mom complained to the school, so they took it off."

"Nooooo!" Mikan cried. "But it's my favourite!"

She felt someone nudge her thigh and turned. Otonashi pointed toward the sand pit. "It's your turn, Mikan."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "Thanks."

Mikan walked up to the starting line and stretched. She took her time twirling her ankles and stretching her long legs. The teacher tapped his foot patiently.

"Any time now, Sakura," he hinted impatiently.

"Oh, ok!"

She sprinted as fast as she could and launched herself into the air. Funny, she could have swore that she heard something rip. But the sand pit was right in front of her, so she diverted all her attention there. Hop. She hopped as far as she could. Step. Mikan felt her left foot landing down on the sand and launched herself into the air once more. And jump. She wobbled slightly when she landed but regained balance and walked out of the sand pit. To her surprise, all the girls and guys were gaping at her.

"She almost reached the end of the sand pit," Sumire croaked in admiration.

Clearly, no one expected that to happen. They expected Mikan to be horrible at track and field. Normally, she was a clumsy idiot, but now? How did she get so good all of a sudden?

"7.43 metres," the teacher said in amazement. "Good job, Sakura."

Mikan rubbed her head with her hand. "Thanks!"

She walked to the back of the line and passed Natsume, who had on a shocked and murderous face. Mikan stuck her tongue out at him, positive that she won. He clenched his fists and stomped over to her.

"You! Come with me!"

"Hey, what are you doing?" Mikan demanded.

"You're coming with me. Now." He hissed.

"You don't have to drag me away just because I beat you," she told him, but he didn't reply.

They ran off the field and were about to enter the school, but Serina sensei interrupted them. "Natsume, Mikan, please do not run around the school unattended," she approached them and said.

"Shut the hell up!" Natsume snapped and kept dragging Mikan away.

He dragged her into the school and up the flights of stairs. Finally, he stopped at his locker to open the lock. Natsume was so frustrated that he messed up his combination three times and had to start over.

"What did you drag me here for?" she demanded, crossing her arms.

He opened the lock and threw aside so furiously that it hit another locker with a bang and nearly dented it, then dropped to the floor. He swung his locker door aside and almost ripped it open. She wondered if she really pissed him off that much. Before she knew it, he took something out and flung it at her. She felt it land on her face. She took it with one hand. Shorts. Black shorts. Mikan looked from the shorts to Natsume back to the shorts. "What are these?"

"My gym shorts. Put them on." he ordered.

She folded her arms in resistance. "I'm not putting on _your _gym shorts. I've got my own!"

"Put. Them. On." He hissed.

"No!"

Natsume's eyes flared. "You want to show off your childish polka dotted underwear to the whole world?! Go ahead! See if I care. You'd be a fool to think that they're appealing to guys."

Now it was Mikan's turn to gasp in horror. So she was not imagining things after all; the ripping sound she heard earlier was the ripping of her shorts. She felt her face heat up out of embarrassment. "Oh no!" she whimpered, "Natsume, tell me I didn't just show my underwear to the whole world!"

He took deep breaths and calmed himself down. "As much as I'd love to do that, I can't. Please, just go change, will you?"

"Uh, yeah and thanks." She was just about to run off to the bathroom, but she turned back, "And Natsume?"

"Yeah?"

Mikan Sakura, in a threatening voice, hissed, "Don't look!"

He wasn't going to, but now he changed his mind.

* * *

"I can't find Miki-chan!" Misaki whined from up in the stands.

Tsubasa shrugged. Why did he have to shrug at a time like this? Didn't he care about his sister? Why did he have to be such a guy all the time? "Well, we lost Naru too…"

"No, he ditched us by chasing after Misaki-sensei."

"Oh my god! Don't remind me!"

- - -

_Narumi, Tsubasa and Misaki had just arrived at the stands. The high school division had a half-day so they were released early. As soon as they made their way into the stands, Narumi seemed to recognize someone._

"_Oh! Hi Misaki! It's been so long! Can we sit here?" he asked rather loudly._

_He was talking to a dark haired teacher that they recognized from the high school division who cringed slightly at Narumi's voice._

_An irritated college student with violet eyes and glasses that sat beside Misaki turned to him and pointed to the blond. "Misaki-sensei, do you know him?"_

"_No," was Misaki-sensei's immediate response and he got up and stormed out, Narumi following behind him and pestering him with questions._

_The college student then turned to them, his eyes boring into theirs. "Do you guys know them?"_

"_No," was Misaki Harada's immediate response._

_Subaru Imai gave them a faint smile. "In that case, help yourself to a seat."_

_- - - _

"Look, there she is!" Tsubasa called out. "Mikan!!"

The pigtailed brunette heard the voice and turned her head. A delighted expression appeared on her face and she waved frantically at them.

Misaki waved back. "She's cute, isn't she? Our sister!"

"Wait, wait!" he replied. "Back up there. _Our_ sister?"

"Yes!" Misaki said and punched him in the shoulder. "Our sister."

"And when, can I ask, did she become _our _sister?" replied he.

"Since I adopted her in grade six of course!" stated Misaki.

"But then if she was your sister, and she was my sister, you'd be my sister too, and why would I want that?"

"Was that an insult?" she yelled.

"Uh, well…"

"Or where you just trying to flirt with me?"

He saw her raise her fist and put both hands in the air in defeat. "Ok! No hitting! Seriously, Misaki, it hurts! I swear, you must've given me at least ten bruises in the past, you sadist!"

"I'm a sadist," she admitted, "But that would make you a masochist, Tsubasa."

"How?"

"Well you're in love with a sadist, aren't you."

He stared at the menacing fist in front of him uneasily and diverted his eyes to the girl that owned the menacing fist that was right in front of him.

"Y-yea."

She didn't hit him. Well, that was a first.

* * *

"This is definitely a problem," Hotaru hissed.

The ten red first place ribbons pinned on both Natsume and Mikan were the cause of her frustration. The last event was over and they were tied. Frigging tied. Who cared about sportsmanship? Who cared about fairness? Money was at stake!

"I guess we both win then," Mikan commented. "No hard feelings, Natsume?"

"No, no, no!" Hotaru exclaimed. "There is no tie in a competition. This track and field day will not be over until a winner is declared." Her violet eyes flared precariously.

"Imai!" Ruka protested, "Please give it a break!"

"You're quick to take Mikan's side!" Hotaru hissed and grabbed Mikan's arm. "We're having one last race to determine the winner: the three legged race. Nogi, you dare defy me?"

"Yes I do!" Ruka yelled, "And just so you know, I'm taking Sakura-san's side."

"Ruka, if you go to the idiot's side, that means that my partner…" It horrified Natsume to even think about tying his ankle to Hotaru's.

Ruka understood immediately. He deliberated between his best friend and his crush. It seemed forever until he finally took Natsume's side while giving Mikan and apologetic smile.

"Right," Hotaru replied with a smirk, "Go with your best friend. It's healthier for you anyway."

What she meant, Ruka did not want to know.

"I'll be judge!" Koko announced. "So you guys are starting at this side of the soccer field. You'll go down the field, around the other goalpost and back. The first one to touch the post back here wins!"

By this point, all the sixth graders already assembled behind the goalpost where Natsume, Ruka, Mikan, and Hotaru were tying their ankles together. Many of them were cheering, whistling, or just chanting out their names. It was chaotic. Even the teachers had to come over to supervise, but they didn't do anything about the additional race either.

"Natsume-sama! Ruka-sama! We love you!" their fan club screamed amidst all the other voices. "You can beat them!"

"No way!" Otonashi yelled, "No one can beat Mikan Sakura!"

"Mikan, we _have _to win, ok? If you don't, Natsume will hold this victory over you for the rest of his life," Hotaru whispered. "No pressure."

Mikan gasped. "That liar! I said no hard feelings!"

"Ready!" Koko called. "Set…"

The whistle blew and both teams immediately sprinted to a great start. Hotaru surprisingly had little trouble matching Mikan's pace. Up in the stands, Subaru Imai had the honour of seeing his sister actually try in some kind of physical education activity for the first time.

Around the goalpost the two teams went, Mikan's team barely leading. Unfortunately, near the end of the race, Hotaru quickened the pace a bit too much and Mikan stumbled, falling over and crossing the line at the exact same time Natsume's foot did.

Confusion erupted from the ground. Otonashi shouted, "I think it was Mikan-chan! She beat them by barely a second!"

Sumire cried, "No! Natsume-sama and Ruka-sama did! I'm sure I saw his foot cross the line first! Besides, she practically won by falling! She should be disqualified!"

"Let Koko decide!" Mochu compromised. "He's the judge!"

Everyone swarmed around Koko, barely giving him space to breathe. The frantic demands of betters and fan girls made him apprehensive.

"Hey guys, give him some space!" Mikan cried from outside the crowd, but no one heard her. "Hey! Please! Listen!"

When no one responded, she got really frustrated and angry. "HEY!!! SHUT UP AND LISTEN!!!" bellowed Mikan, and finally captured everyone's attention.

"Ghee, you're loud, Polka Dots," her rival commented, "What you trying to do? Make everyone deaf?"

She glared at him and turned back to Koko. "So who won?"

"It's…" Koko sighed in defeat, "It's a tie."

The crowd moaned in disappointment.

"All because of your big head," said Natsume.

"Excuse me!" exclaimed Mikan. "No, actually, excuse you and your big mouth!"

He rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's go get our damn freezies. I want to get the red one before it's out."

Mikan ran after him. "I want orange!"

Ruka turned to Hotaru after they left. She had no apparent emotion, but he could see that she was obviously really pissed off. It was a tie, which meant that she didn't gain any money, but hey, she didn't lose any either. "See? I told you it was no use, Imai. Natsume and Sakura-san have a special relationship that none of us can penetrate, not even their closest friends. As much as I don't want to admit it, they're special. It's like they were meant for each other."

She seemed to glare at him for a moment, but then the corners of her mouth curved up into a mild smile. "Oh, that's ok, Nogi. You'll just be the involuntary model/prey for my pictures for the next six months or so. We'll spend some good quality master-slave time. Isn't that splendid?"

She waved and departed for the freezie table along with everyone else. Hotaru didn't see Ruka's horrified face, but she knew it was there.

_End of Grade Five._

* * *

**I'm deliberating, for this story, and for my others, whether I should do an RxH. I'm not that much of a fan on RxHs, although I used to be. The pairing is ok, but it just doesn't seem right to me to have Ruka and Hotaru openly show their love in front of the whole world. They just don't seem like that kind of people. They're more of the more-than-friends-but-less-than-lovers type and I like to hint at their relationship rather than to make it obvious. Anyway, please tell me whether you want me to do one or not.**

**Don't forget to REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW!!!**

**-IndigoGrapefruit**


	6. Grade Six

**Indigo's Corner: Ok, so I'm finally on break, from school and drama. I swear, so much drama happened in the last week that I could actually write a book on it... You know what, that's just what I'm going to do... What do you think of the TonoxShizune pairing? It's crackish and very uncanon, and I LOVE IT.**

**Dedicated to all my unofficial counselors and antidepressants: Billybobjoe, my slave; Streetah, my partner in crime; Janica, my bishie; Camila, my doughnut and ex wife (she broke up with me!); Linxii, my right hand man; Wish-chan, my soul twin; Starry-chan, my semi beta reader; Sis, my sister and long time friend; Cynthia, my mommie; mimi-chan, my inspiration; Lin-Lin, my sis; and last but not least "the dude", who is also the main cause of all this drama...**

**Disclaimer: We all wish we own GA...**

* * *

**Grade 6  
His Birthday**

A brunette leaned on her desk, head in both hands. She was staring intensely into crimson irises. They were surrounded by guys and gals, who anticipated the outcome in anxiety. Their faces were inches away from each other, close enough that even a subtle gesture from anyone in the audience could make them kiss. Except, they weren't staring intensely at each other because they were in love, despite what it may seem like. It was a much more trivial matter than that at the moment.

"Couldn't they just flip a coin?" Sumire leaned over to Koko and whispered in his ear, startling him for a moment.

"I have a feeling that this is Natsume's idea," he replied, "And usually, I'm right."

Sitting in a chair far away, watching over the stupid contest was none other than the brunette's best friend. "This is stupid," she commented, but everyone could see that she was stealing glances at them over the pictures she took of Ruka last summer.

"Just blink, you idiot," Natsume hissed, leaning closer. His face now seemed rather menacing.

Mikan, too, leaned closer and replied, "No, you blink first! I'm not losing without a fight! There's no way I am going to get _that _for your birthday."

Hotaru's ears perked up at the word "that". Now the way Mikan put it must have meant that "that" was hinted at something only Natsume understood. Which meant that "that" also had something to do with her because there were certain things in Hotaru's perspective that Natsume was not allowed to receive for his birthday. Her vigilant eyes focused on the separate individuals. If he moved even one millimeter closer to her, she would have to step in and smash his head open.

The girl with the horribly permed hair also studied the distance between the competitive individuals. She was very annoyed. Did they _have _to go into a competition about every single thing? If Natsume wanted something for his birthday, why couldn't Mikan just give it to him and get it over with? It was a tiring, unsuccessful façade that they put up. Everyone knew that Natsume and Mikan were heads over heels for each other. Sumire herself knew this from a very reliable source a.k.a. the psycho blond boy beside her.

"You know what, just get it over with!" Sumire yelled impatiently and banged their heads together with her hands.

Their foreheads collided with a huge impact, like when two basketballs hit each other when two individuals attempted to shoot at the same time. Natsume let out a fierce growl while Mikan cried "Ow! Who did that?!"

Immediately, Koko's accusing finger directed them towards Sumire. His words confirmed their suspicion, "It was Permy. She was trying to make you guys kiss, but your foreheads were too big." He turned to his left and in seeing her shocked face, just shrugged at her.

"Snitch," she hissed at him. What pissed her off was his unfaltering smile, and even more, his response.

"Only for you."

* * *

After Koko dealt with an angry Natsume in Sumire's face (he felt bad for her), the six of them went to the nearby candy shop that a friendly old man owned after school. The girls had ordered strawberry smoothies and a box of fluff puffs (for Mikan). Natsume and Ruka politely refused, stating that they weren't hungry and he wasn't really in the mood to eat after Natsume took out his anger on him. The man was, however, kind enough to ask what happened.

"He fell," Sumire merely commented after a sip, "The clumsy idiot."

"You're welcome, Permy."

The old man nodded uncertainly and brought the fluff puffs to their table. Mikan immediately bounced up and down in her seat in delight.

"Thanks, jii-chan!" she exclaimed excitedly and started snacking on them.

"So Hyuuga, what did you want Mikan to give you for your birthday so badly?" Hotaru had been dying to bring up the subject for ages. "I mean, if it was bad enough for you to have a staring contest with her…"

Mikan opened her mouth to speak, but Natsume glared at her and whispered, "Don't you dare tell. We had a verbal contract, remember?" She nodded and closed it.

"Verbal contract?"

_Stupid shithead, just has to pry into everything_, he thought venomously. Natsume folded his arms and leaned back in an arrogant matter. He commented with much contempt, "Yes. You have a problem with that?"

"As a matter of fact I do," she snarled, "As it is a free country, you do not have the right to take away her freedom of speech using a lame excuse such as 'we had a verbal contract'. Besides, I am asking this of you as her best friend who is concerned for her because I am sure that if it's you, 'that' must refer to something quite obscene."

He would have objected to that fact, but then he would have been lying. Time for plan B. "Fine then. If polka here comes up with a better birthday present, I won't dwell on this anymore." His lips curled upwards into a smirk. "But seeing that my birthday is tomorrow, I wonder how she will do."

He got up from the table and left with a wave.

* * *

Three youths scouted Central Town later that day, the tallest of them a handsome dark haired high scholar with a star on his cheek. He was almost as pissed off as Hotaru was.

"I don't get it," Tsubasa sighed, "Why does my sister have to buy a present for some stupid brat?"

The youngster beside him had golden hair that gleamed in the sunlight. Ruka volunteered to shop with them because even though they were buying a present for Natsume, it meant that he got to spend time with Mikan. And to add to that, she even asked him for his opinion. Sometimes, he felt lucky to be Natsume's right hand man, even though he was always second in her eyes.

"Natsume's not a stupid brat," he shrugged and protested, "He's just mean sometimes to people that aren't close to him."

"I don't care what you say about him, he's a damn stupid brat!"

Mikan was in an uneasy mood, a cross between being forced into doing this for Natsume and listening to Hotaru and her brother's negative views of her.

"W-well, b-because," she stammered, and hid her face in embarrassment. "Cause he said…"

- - -

"_Natsume!" the bouncy girl asked, "I'm asking you cause I can't come up with anything, but what do you want for your birthday?"_

_He deliberated for a second between saying something decent and telling her what he _really _wanted. _

"_C'mon, just tell me," she said, "I'm not going to hold it over you and I won't tell anyone else if you don't want me to."_

_Well in that case…_

_He drew his mouth to her ear and whispered, "Give me your panties."_

_Mikan gasped._

_- - -_

"Er… nothing," she replied quickly when she noticed that Tsubasa and Ruka were staring at her in anticipation. "I was just spacing out. Sorry."

They were walking when a store caught her attention. The sign said, "Alice Stones" and there were lots of shiny rocks being displayed. Being a fan of all things shiny, Mikan immediately skipped inside.

A sophisticated looking woman with a nametag on her uniform that said "Shizune Yamanouchi" looked up from the counter and saw them. Her hair was a light gray and completely straight. She wore square glasses and was as high as a model. Her eyes widened a slight bit when Tsubasa came in the store.

"Shizune-sempai," he said, a bit taken back. "What are you doing here?"

"Onii-chan knows this pretty lady?" Mikan asked.

"This pretty lady here," said Tsubasa gestured to her with one hand, "Is an expert in bargaining and hijacking your money. You know, once Tono went out with her and lost seven hundred and twelve bucks in a day."

Mikan gasped in shock and locked at Shizune for confirmation.

"Serves him right, the desperate dunce," she replied and winked at Mikan.

"She's also Tono's old unrequited love when he was in high school. By the way, is he over you yet?" Tsubasa asked. "I mean it's about time that he moved on already."

"Probably has. We haven't seen much of each other lately, ever since we went to different universities. Of course, I see him in bars every now and then. He's more of a playboy than ever now. Sometimes I wonder how he ever got the money for those kinds of things. I'm going to have to start blackmailing him soon."

"He does have a tendency to never run out of cash," Tsubasa agreed, "Shizune-sempai, are you short? I could lend a hand, you know. I never knew you part timed here."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll pay for my own university fees."

"Right. You were always independent."

"So, my little kouhai, you here to buy something?"

"My sis."

Mikan ditched their conversation long ago and was now interested in two particular necklaces. They came in a set and both had a shiny smooth stone attached. One was tangerine orange and the other was crimson red. What captured her attention, though, were the words engraved on the stones.

_It's perfect._

"Tsubasa-nii!" she called, holding them up, "I've decided! I want these."

* * *

"What the hell is this?" Natsume said, staring down at a shiny orange stone attached to a chain. There was the word 'together' carved on it. It was without a doubt a necklace, but even he thought that Mikan would come up with a better idea than that.

"Friendship stones!" she exclaimed, holding hers up. Hers was bright crimson and had the word 'forever'. "Cause we're graduating this year. It just made me think how time goes by so fast! Soon we'll be high school graduates and we'll all have to leave Alice Academy and go our separate ways, just like Tono-sempai and Shizune-sempai."

_Together forever eh? _he thought, _what a cheesy line…Mikan really needs to stop being emotionally affected by what happens in other people's lives._ Nonetheless, he liked the present, but he wasn't going easy on her quite yet…

Before Mikan could put it on, the necklace was hijacked from her hands. Natsume tossed it up in the air and caught it again.

"You want to give me this one since red's my favourite colour?" he asked.

She blinked and noticed that the necklace magically from her hands to his. "Natsume, give it back!"

Mikan reached over for it but lost her balance and almost fell on him. Trying to steady her, Natsume, with both of his hands pushed her away from him. He had no such attention, but by a twist of fate, they just happened to land on her chest.

She gasped in horror and immediately put both hands over her chest. He too, was shocked and couldn't believe what he just did. Without either of them saying a word, she ran away.

* * *

"Hotaru! Hotaru!" She heard her best friend call her name and prepared to land another fist on her. This time, though, it was a bit different. She head a bit of hysteria and panic. She looked up and saw Mikan crying waterfalls and hugging her chest tightly. "Hotaruuuuu!! Natsume, he- he –he touched _my chest_!"

Hotaru's froze. Her eyes flared dangerously and she emitted a precarious aura. Her face was filled to the max with anger. She balled up her fists so tight that her nails were digging into her flesh painfully. However, that was not even the slight of her troubles. In an absolutely deadly voice, she bellowed, "Hyuuga, you fucking son of a bitch, get over here _NOW_."

Casually walking over with his hands in his pockets, Natsume had a smug smile on his face. He took his time and several minutes passed before he arrived. With every second, Hotaru's fury grew. At last, he joined them and commented, "Hi Imai."

"I'm going to sue you for sexual harassment," she threatened. "How many times have I warned you not to touch Mikan, and you go ahead and lay your filthy vermin hands all over her body." She turned and commented aside to her best friend, "Mikan, when you get home, take a shower immediately."

"Sure," he complied. "You can sue me whenever you want. Money doesn't matter anyway. Natsume rolled his eyes. "What's there to feel anyways? Her chest is washboard flat."

Behind Hotaru, Mikan gave a slight whimper.

"Hyuuga!" Hotaru's voice rose. "Watch what you say. Who knows? I might just do it this time."

He waved away Hotaru's words and approached Mikan. He held out his hand for his necklace. When her apprehensive face turned into puzzlement, he told her, "I want my present."

"Take it," Mikan said and handed him his necklace.

He took it and leaned to whisper in her ear despite her shivers, "It was completely and utterly an accident. As perverted as I am, you know I'd never grope you on purpose."

She nodded and slowly came out from behind Hotaru.

_End Of Grade Six_

_

* * *

_

**Oh and as of now, I'm going to start updating randomly because I've become a lazy bum. I'm serious. This chapter was done today.**

**Drop by a few reviews, if you would please.**

**-IG**


	7. Grade Seven

**Indigo's Corner  
Ok, peeps. It's been exactly a month and fourteeth days since I updated this. I'm being a lazy bum and not updating lately, so yea...  
And thank you xAvenging Angelx for stealing the 100th review. I have no idea how many times I said this so far, but you are truly my number one review abuser. Thanks to everyone else for reviewing. You have no idea how much I love you guys, =).**

**Note that I probably won't be updating this much since I've got about five projects going on at a time, not including school work. And on top of that, I'm a very lazy person.**

**Extra note to Pam: Sorry to keep you waiting, xD!**

**Disclaimer  
Gakuen Alice still does not belong to me. **

* * *

**Grade 7**  
**Valentine's Day**

Student Body President Yuu Tobita's voice rang over the announcements. He may be the smart, but one thing was for sure, he wasn't a public speaker. Even without actually speaking in front of the whole school, he was stuttering and obviously very nervous.

"Um…" He fidgeted and a pause was heard when he looked down at the script. "Since it's almost the fourteenth of February, which you all know is V-Valentine's Day. Uh, we well be selling, um, c-candy grams in the cafeteria at lunch for f-fifty cents each. The money raised will go to charity. And, um, that concludes our announcements. Please stand for the singing of the national anthem."

The screeching of chairs was heard as students got up from their seats. One of them was Mikan Sakura, our lovely brunette. She gave a sigh.

"Poor Yuu, he never volunteered to do that in the first place."

Her best friend Hotaru, who sat beside her, gave an involuntary shrug as the students around them started singing. She was the only one that kept her mouth shut. Singing was never Hotaru Imai's forte, and she was sure that messing up the national anthem wasn't the best option to do when devil Jinno was your homeroom teacher. Shutting up was the best option for now.

Chairs screeched on the floor again as students sat down.

"Hotaru, Hotaru, are you getting me candy grams?"

She turned to see a huge smile plastered on Mikan's face. Her puppy dog eyes were already working their magic.

"If I give you one, that means I'd have to give everyone else one to be fair," she sighed. "Since I know about fifty people, that'd be wasting twenty-five dollars just to get you one candy gram."

"Please, please, please, please, please Hotaru! You'll my best friend for ever and ever! I'll do anything! Just _please_!"

Mikan repeated that phrase several times throughout the day, with a cuter pout and whinier voice each time.

"You're getting one," Hotaru finally commented flatly, admitting defeat, and joined the already long line in the cafeteria for candy grams.

"Yay!" the brunette exclaimed and wrapped her into a tight bear hug. When she let go, she was already calculating how much she would get from her friends. "So that's one from you. I know Ruka-pyon's getting me some, and Koko, and Permy. That's four… I don't know if Yura-chan and Kitsuneme are gonna buy any for me cause I hardly talk to them. Six, I guess. Oh! Nonoko and Anna for sure! Eight now. Maybe I could convince Iinchou to get me a few… And Natsume's getting me some for sure so I don't have to worry about him." She said that with a confident smile on her face.

"Yea, no. Sorry to disappoint you, Mikan, but Hyuuga's not getting anyone anything. I heard from reliable sources that he was broke."

"What?!" Mikan exclaimed vehemently, "He's not buying me any Candy grams?!?! He'd better!" Her eyes were shooting daggers at Natsume, silently chomping on his sandwich at the other end of the cafeteria beside Koko.

"You're not going to die, Mikan," Hotaru commented nonchalantly. "What's so good about candy anyway? Fifty cents is a rip off if you ask me. You can just get a lot more from the dollar store."

"But it tastes so much better when you receive it from a friend!" Mikan folded her arms and protested. "And part of the money goes to fundraising!"

The line shifted and both of them stepped up. Mikan peered at around the corner where the people turned. There were still about thirty students ahead of them.

"You know," scoffed Hotaru, "If the school trustees had one ounce of brain cells in their heads, they would have come up with much better ways to fundraise by now."

"Like?"

"Blackmail."

Mikan furrowed her brow. "Blackmail is illegal, Hotaru."

"Oh well."

"Hey guys, what's up?"

They perked up at the new, masculine voice that joined the conversation. The girls turned to see Koko and his constant smile. This time, though, he was smiling wider than usual and you could see his teeth.

"Huh? But you… There… How?" Mikan whizzed her head back and forth between Koko and the table he was just at.

"I walked over!"

"Five dollar fee if you bud in the line, just to tell you," Hotaru quickly announced, holding out her hand.

"Nah, it's ok," their friend refused politely.

"Hey, so what's up with Natsume?" Mikan demanded. "Why is he not getting me any candy grams? He usually gets me a lot of stuff, and he _knows _how much I love them!"

"Natsume's not doing anything this Valentine's Day," Koko told them, "Not even buying candy grams. He _says _that it's because he's broke from buying gum, but I personally think that he's just moody because it's Valentine's Day and he has an unrequited love." He winked at Hotaru.

Mikan gasped. "Who?"

"I… don't think that I'm allowed to tell…" Koko chose his words carefully. Very carefully.

"But I could help them get together!" she whined, jumping up and down.

"That'd be a bit hard to do if it were y- Ow!"

Hotaru struck him with her elbow and gave him a stern "you're giving away too much information" look.

"Anyway, tell him that he owes me," Mikan demanded, "And that I won't forgive him if he doesn't give me any this Valentine's."

"Alright, alright," Koko replied with a tint of annoyance and left them to go back to the table.

* * *

Ten people closer to the candy gram booth later, Koko came back with Natsume's message.

"He says no."

A vein popped in her head. "Well tell him that I'm not going to give him a Valentine's card then. I'll give one to everyone else, but not him." Her eyes flared. Fights over candy were dangerous if you had Mikan Sakura as your opponent.

So there Koko went and back he came.

"Well," he narrated, somehow pleased at Mikan's impatience, "after a long, long argument – er - pause. You see, Natsume usually argues with himself in his head but you can tell that he is because he always stares blankly at one thing and makes this incoherent sound. Sometimes you can even see confusion in his eyes. A lot of people say that they can't tell but it's actually quite-"

"On topic, Koko."

"Right. So as I was saying, after a long mental argument with himself," Koko smiled at Mikan's scowl, "Natsume finally decided that he's going to buy you one."

"One?" Her expression obviously showed that she wanted more.

With a sigh, Koko mumbled, "I'll go tell him to get you more then."

This time, he took his time, stopping to talk to several people on the way before he finally arrived at Natsume's table.

"She says one's not enough," he announced, hoping that it wouldn't earn him a glare from Natsume.

"_Someone_'s greedy when it comes to candy," Sumire sipped her slushy and commented in an obnoxious tone. She gazed at Mikan and narrowed her eyes when she saw that Koko was watching her with one brow raised. "What? I'm rethinking whether I should get her one or not."

"Ten then," Natsume voiced gruffly, "Since I'm getting my allowance this week."

"She'll like that." Koko agreed.

Back he went to the two girls in line. They were actually quite close to the booth now, maybe only fifteen or so people ahead.

"He says ten. That should be enough for you right?"

She was surprised. "Ten? I was hoping that he'd get me five or so. I mean, ten is a bit expensive."

Koko folded his arms impatiently. "First you say it's not enough, and now you say it's too much. Geez, Mikan, what does it take for a poor guy to satisfy your needs?"

"No, actually, ten's fine. It's just that you said he was broke and ten costs five dollars…"

But Koko was already heading back, a devious plan in his head. Being a messenger was tiring when you had to send five word responses between two people over a long distance. He might as well make the most fun out of it.

"Well?" Natsume asked in a monotone that fooled all but Koko. "What'd she say?"

"Ten's not enough for her," Koko told him with a mischievous grin, "She wants twenty."

Natsume's jaw dropped and he gave Koko an "are you serious!?!?" look, at which Koko just smiled at. "Fifteen's the highest I'll go. No more, no less."

"Kay," he said and left the table. But this time, he didn't go to Mikan. Instead, he went straight to Kitsuneme."

* * *

"Ruka-pyon!" Two girls said in unison.

A shadow blocked the light that was shining on his lunch and he looked up to see Anna and Nonoko standing and smiling at him, a fork of spaghetti still in his mouth. Ruka swallowed, wiped his mouth with his napkin politely, and greeted them, "Hello Anna-chan, Nonoko-chan. What brings you here?"

"It's almost Valentine's Day!" Anna said.

"Almost Valentine's Day!" Nonoko echoed.

They were both smiling sweetly at him. Ruka knew that smile. It was the one that Hotaru always had on her face before she introduced him to one of her devious plans of selling his pictures for profit. He had to resist the urge to run out of the cafeteria this instant. The only reason Ruka stayed was because he didn't think of Anna and Nonoko as a threat. They were cute, innocent girls, not evil and dangerous like Hotaru.

That didn't stop him from the being nervous. "H-how may I help you two?"

"Valentine's Day is confession day!"

"And there's an angel at the candy gram booth that's waiting for you!"

Ruka glanced briefly at the candy gram booth. Hotaru and Mikan were talking with the student body president while filling out their slips of paper. Mikan paused and turned to ask Hotaru something, probably about someone's class. When she turned back, she caught eye contact with him and flashed a grin. Ruka felt the blood rush to his cheeks and immediately looked down.

When he looked up, Anna and Nonoko had the identical angelic smile on their faces again.

"What do you want?" he asked, desperate to be left alone.

"You've got a girl waiting for you!" they chorused, "So we're going to help you get her. Come on!"

Then they each locked their grip on one of his arms and dragged the unwilling Ruka out of the cafeteria.

* * *

The morning of February fourteenth, Jinno grumpily handed out candy grams to his students. Well, he actually got Kitsuneme to hand them out while he just sat there and grumbled about how Valentine's Day was useless and that the students were only in middle school and should concentrate on their studies and something that sounded like, "They should really save stuff like this until University or at least High School."

Fifteen anonymous candy grams mysteriously found their way to Mikan Sakura's desk. She blinked and looked at each one of them with the same amount of curiosity.

"Hotaru, who sent me these?" she asked in wonder.

"Obviously someone you know," she replied.

Mikan gasped. "Could it be that I have a secret admirer? Or maybe several secret admirers! Oh my god! I never thought that I was so popular!"

"You're not," Sumire commented dryly, a much bigger pile of candy sitting on her desk. "They're all from Natsume."

"Oh…" Somehow, Mikan managed to sound disappointed, but then she brightened up again. "Well he shouldn't have! I can't believe he actually spent…" – she paused for a moment to calculate - "seven dollars and fifty cents just to get me candy! I owe him so much for this!"

"You got that right!" Natsume called from across the classroom.

"Why're you here, Hyuuga?" Hotaru questioned icily. "Go back to your own glass."

"Chill, Imai," he replied, "I'm just dropping off a few textbooks, that's all. If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to be in your vicinity either."

"Go, go!" whispers came from the hallway and suddenly, Ruka was shoved in the classroom in a clean, white suit and holding a bouquet of flowers. As soon as he entered the classroom, he stared down at the floor, not letting anyone catch glance at his tomato red face.

Half the class just gaped.

Hotaru took out her camera and started snapping pictures from every angle possible.

Luckily Jinno went out of the classroom a few minutes prior, stating to himself that Valentine's Day was too lovey-dovey for an old grump like him and that he needed some fresh air so he totally missed the moment.

Natsume looked at his best friend, his mouth clamped tight into a straight, horizontal line. He already presumed what his best friend was going to do, but as much as he wanted to stop Ruka, he also had no right to. All he could do now was hope.

Ruka walked right up to Mikan, flashing an apologetic glance at Natsume on the way, and handed her the bouquet of roses. She was quite taken back, but accepted it with pleasure.

"Ruka-pyon, these are so pretty!" she exclaimed as she took the bouquet and took a huge breath in, inhaling the sweet scent of roses. "Thank you so much!"

Uh, you're welcome," he said, mentally taking note that he was never going to trust girls again, especially Anna and Nonoko since they had a habit of taking things way overboard. He took a deep breath in and prepared to confess. "Uh, um, what I mean is…"

"Hmm?" Mikan looked at him with her huge brown eyes.

"Uh…" Staring into her eyes was seriously making Ruka dizzy and he said it all in one breath. "MikanSakuraIloveyoureallymuchwillyougooutwithme?"

"S-sure," she answered on impulse.

Ruka sighed in relief and gave her a huge bear hug. Unsure of what to do, Mikan hesitatingly patted his back.

"Aww," the whole class went, touched by the cuteness of the couple.

Natsume stared dejectedly at the textbooks he was putting in the shelves. His eyes were dull and his lips were still pressed into a hard line. He didn't look up and he didn't see his best friend hug the girl he loved. What he heard was enough.

* * *

Anna and Nonoko entered the classroom squealing and clasping their hands together.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!!" Anna cried, "She said yes, oh my god!"

"Hey, but wait," Nonoko said, noticing that something was wrong here. "Why was he hugging her best friend?"

Anna gave her best friend a questioning look. "What do you mean? Weren't we trying to get him together with Mikan Sakura? You even said so yourself! 'There's an angel at the candy gram booth waiting for you!'"

"Hotaru Imai _was _at the candy gram booth."

"What, so you meant-"

"Well isn't it obvious that she likes him? I thought you would have seen it."

"But I thought you meant Mikan Sakura!"

"Oh, _c'est un disastre!_" Nonoko cried, throwing her arms up in the air, "Mikan Sakura belongs with Natsume Hyuuga, Anna. How can you not _see _that?"

"Well, I'm sorry for the misinterpretation," Anna cried back. "But still, you got to admit that Ruka and Mikan do look somewhat good together."

"Well look at Natsume there in the corner sorting out test books!"

They both glanced at Natsume at the same time. Even with his back to them, they could sense the gloomy atmosphere around him.

Nonoko and Anna both gave a defeated sigh.

* * *

While the rest of the people were crowding around Mikan and Ruka, Hotaru hopped off her chair and came to where Natsume was still taking his time and sorting the textbooks by number. As he inserted number twenty-one between number twenty and twenty-two, she asked, "You're not going to go congratulate your friend?"

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't make my day worse than it already is," he hissed exasperatingly.

Hotaru rolled her eyes. "_Chill_, Hyuuga. It's only middle school. Middle school relationships last for about three months. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you."

"You're doing an awful bad job at sympathizing, Imai," he sneered, "Besides, what makes you think that I _want _them to break up?"

"I don't sympathize, Hyuuga. I emphasize. There's a difference. And though I'd hate to say this, but we've actually many similarities. Having our best friend date the one we like would be one example."

And thus, the truce was made.

_End of Grade Seven_

* * *

**Oh my! I did my math wrong. Whoops! Anyway, a thank you to the anonymous reviewer that pointed it out to me, :).**

**An extra, extra note that the candy grams thing really did happen to a friend of a friend of mine back in grade seven. I don't know about you guys, but I found it hilarious.**

**You know what makes my day! *nudgeReview!nudge***

**Love,  
-IndigoGrapefruit**


	8. Grade Eight

**Indigo's Corner  
Back from vacation and I realize how long it's been since I've written. o.O This is by far the most OOC and dramatic chapter, I think, and probably the most realistic (though I don't recall having conversations that deep in Grade Eight). I actually wanted to change it and make it inot a oneshot, but mehh. **

**I have really no idea where I'm going to go from here. I ditched the original outline for Growing Up because it was seriously too surreal. **

**I know I've been away for a longgg time and I have a lot of catching up, so I'll be updating like crazy until school starts :). Chapter three of Three Wishes will hopefully be completed and up sometime during the weekend and chapter four of Three Wishes and Those Good Old days some time next week. Oh, and I'll throw in a couple of oneshots and hopefully Yuna's late late late birthday present somewhere in between.**

**Haha, my head is brimming with ideas! :)**

**Note that this fic takes place in October, the same year as Grade 7.**

**Disclaimer  
IndigoGrapefruit does not own Gakuen Alice.**

* * *

**Grade 8  
Ulterior Motives**

He'd been experiencing a lot of teenage angst lately, Natsume realized recently.

Like the time when he got so infuriated over a simple, chaste kiss that Ruka gave Mikan in public that when he got home, he hit the wall repetitively until his fists bled. He told his dad that he fell.

Or the time that Hotaru announced that their alliance was over and he swore in her face. The result was not pretty.

Or the time that he made the stupid mistake of letting his angst out in front of his father and got shut out of the house. He ran away for the night but came back the next day with sand in his clothes and leaves in his hair (he slept in the park). He got yelled at.

Teenage angst sucks.

Watching your best friend go out with the girl you loved ever since she got you to open up to her in grade one sucked even more. That sandwich trick was cheap, he muttered under his breath.

Natsume had more things to worry about than sandwiches (though he was, Natsume admitted to himself, slightly hungry, not an uncanny thing for growing fourteen year old teenage boys), for Hotaru had told him that they would last a mere three months, but right now they were approaching eight. And more importantly, he was reaching his limit and would rather not see them together every moment of the day.

But seeing Mikan meant seeing Ruka and seeing Mikan and Ruka together was the same as seeing any other couple together.

"Natsume, don't scowl while you eat," Mikan commented while chewing on a fry.

"Don't speak with your mouth full," he spat back at her with malicious eyes.

Mikan shut her mouth.

Oh, did he mention that he'd become extremely bitchy lately?

But she crossed her arms shortly after and snapped back, "Just because you're PMSing doesn't mean that you have to take it out on me. Gosh if you can't be friendly, why don't you take your own advice and shut up for once?"

He scowled and muttered a mere "whatever" before slouching back on his chair and looking out the window. There was this one particular attractive looking girl with bubblegum pink hair, but she was with a guy, and besides, he preferred brunettes.

Wait.

Natsume squinted his eyes. The dude that the chick was with had ebony hair styled in spikes that looked uncannily like… Wait, that was Mikan's brother. And he was heading this way. Natsume smirked.

"You know what? I just remembered that I promised Aoi that I'd take her to the movies today." He paused before adding sarcastically, "You two girls have a nice afternoon now."

"Fine. Like we need you anyway," Mikan scoffed, reaching to dip a fry into ketchup.

Ruka immediately narrowed his eyes. He sensed some inner motive. There was no way Natsume would willingly leave Mikan alone with him. In fact, most of the time, he insisted that he tagged along, very well knowing that they couldn't be intimate in front of him. What was he planning this time?

A bell jingled, signifying that someone just entered the restaurant. Mikan peered around casually, and immediately ducked her head under the table.

"Ruka," she hissed, "It's Tsubasa."

Ruka blinked. So that was what Natsume was up to. He saw the asshole walking out the door right after sneering at Tsubasa, who sneered back. They obviously weren't on good terms, which was good for him. Unfortunately, he had a feeling he wouldn't be far from Natsume in Tsubasa's hate list if Mikan's brother catches him with Mikan alone, in a restaurant.

He gritted his teeth.

_Well, Natsume, you sure are smart, aren't you?_

* * *

He was pleased.

Natsume was very pleased for pulling off that stunt.

But he also felt miserable. When did it get like this? He wasn't that kind of person. He was supposed to be indifferent, not mean. When did he turn into such a jerk? For as long as he remembered, he and Ruka have always been on good terms. They were like brothers, never once an argument. Why then did he just show such contempt to his best friend just now? Why did he just betray them like that?

But Ruka betrayed him first. Because Natsume was sure as damn hell that Ruka was not oblivious to his feelings toward Mikan when he asked her out. Sure it may have been provoked by Nonoko and Anna – he made sure they got hell after that Valentine's Day – but he still had no right to lay his hands on_ his _property. And for that, Natsume could not forgive him.

It was like having his best friend sneer in his face, "All's fair in love and war."

And Mikan. After everything he's done for her, how could she just go ahead and go out with his best friend? And even more so, treat him as some kind of antagonist? Was it her way of saying that she didn't love him?

He felt his teenage angst building up.

He hated, hated, _hated_ the position that he was in. He wished he was Tsubasa, who could yell and scream and hit any guy that so much as touched Mikan any time he wanted. Just because he was her brother.

That'd beat any sick old plan that Hotaru would have developed if their alliance had lasted any day. Now if only Natsume had that power… if only…

* * *

"Mikan?"

"T-Tsubasa-oniichan?" Mikan tried her best to sound and look surprised. "Misaki-oneechan? What a coincidence!"

Tsubasa's eyes fell on Ruka and narrowed. He took a moment to scrutinize him. Ruka felt uneasy at his glance. He shifted slightly and nudged Mikan, who flashed him an apologetic smile. Of course, this only furthered Tsubasa's suspicion.

"Who's he?"

"Ruka's my friend," Mikan answered a bit too quickly. Realizing this not a moment after, she bit her lower lip nervously. "It's not what you think… really…"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ruka flinch at this.

_Sorry, Ruka-pyon, _she thought.

Tsubasa mimicked his sister's action and his eyes wandered around the restaurant, scanning for any of Mikan's friends. When his eyes finally landed back on Mikan, he stated, "I thought I told you not to go anywhere alone with a boy."

"But we weren't alone!" she protested, "Natsume was also with us! He just had to go right before you went. You even saw him!"

But that only made Tsubasa more tense. "That boy you brought home when you were in grade four?" he hissed.

Ruka gave her a suspicious questioning look and she had to try hard not to shut her eyes and run for it. She'd have to do a lot of explaining after.

"Stop it, onii-chan. You know it wasn't like that…"

"Oh really? The guilt eating you up now, eh, Mikan?"

Mikan snapped. "Stop!" she almost screamed at him. Several passerbys turned their heads to see the commotion that she was causing. "You can't just accuse me of these things whenever I'm with a boy! Do you seriously want me to hang with girls for the rest of my life? You want me to grow up to be a lesbian, don't you, onii-chan?!"

"I'm not saying that," Tsubasa quickly intervened in an attempt to calm his sister down, "But you have to understand that you're young and I don't want you to make any foolish mistakes."

"I'm thirteen, fourteen in less than three months. You can't just… just _baby _me for the rest of my life! Even if I was dating someone, you can't prevent me from it!" Just as Tsubasa opened his mouth, she exploded, "You can't _protect _me from mistakes, Tsubasa! It's not an endearment; it's a restriction. If I never learn to fall, then how will I learn to stand back up? Did you ever think of it like that?"

"Mikan…" said Ruka.

"You-"

Misaki held out her hand to stop him. "Tsubasa. Stop being stubborn. You know she's right. Don't waste your breath to create a pointless argument that you know you're going to lose anyway."

"Misaki, stay out of this," he replied coldly. "It's a family matter."

The hotheaded tomboy crossed her arms and gave him a meaningful look. "The more right I have to have my say in this matter. Mikan's my sister and I stand by her."

"Biological family, Misaki."

"Biological my ass," she hissed, her face looking murderous. "You're a hypocrite Tsubasa. You've never even considered Narumi as a father once."

"Misaki, that's a different matter."

"No it's not," she said, finger pointing to his chest. "I thought this day would never come, but you're a _jerk_, Tsubasa!" She threw up her arms and shook her head angrily in disbelief. "I can't believe I ever thought that you were genuine like Kaname. I guess he was always the better guy after all. You know what Mikan? Never choose the notorious. You'll always regret it."

She tightened her grip on her bag and stomped away, her dangly earrings jingling as if to say, "bye, loser" to Tsubasa.

He shut his eyes and slumped down on a chair, energy drained. Sighing, Tsubasa dragged a hand down his face. Then he started laughing subtly. It scared both Mikan and Ruka, who exchanged glances. They both jumped when Tsubasa banged his hand on the table and stood up, looking more menacing than Misaki did just a few minutes ago.

"Stupid girl," he snorted and stuck his hands in his pocket. He, too, angrily stomped out, kicking a chair that was in his way, making a baby cry and the parents give him a disdainful look.

"Aren't you going to chase after her?" Mikan called.

He halted and stood there like a ghost, still as a stone and not once turning back. "No," he muttered icily before banging the door open and walking out.

"Well that didn't go quite well…" Ruka sighed nervously.

Mikan slumped down on a chair and shook her head back and forth slowly. "No, no, no. This can't be happening. Tsubasa and Misaki have known each other for _years._ They can't just…It can't just end like that! Onii-chan will be devastated! We have to find Misaki and talk to her!"

She had a determined gleam in her eyes. Mikan's conscience had been decided, and once that happened, there would be no stopping her. And that was exactly what made Ruka afraid.

She stood up. "C'mon Ruka-pyon! Let's go!"

"I – uh, are you sure it's a good idea?"

"Very."

He sighed and dragged his butt up from the chair, not bothering to clean up the mess of food that was left on the table.

Because she would do _anything _to get Misaki and Tsubasa back together, and that included breaking up with Ruka.

* * *

Misaki rocked back and forth on a swing. Really, she had no idea she was. She'd never even been to this park before. She sighed, thought back to what had just happened and rolled her eyes. But honestly, she didn't know if she was mad at Tsubasa's yelling at Mikan, her walking out on him for yelling at Mikan, or his not chasing after her for walking out on him.

Seriously, does it really make a difference? Maybe she's mad at all three.

But she's not mad anymore.

Misaki had always been a person to get over things quickly. Once she walked out the door, she realized that she had absolutely no clue why she just walked out on Tsubasa. Because, well, they were supposed to be best friends right? Or maybe more, like a semi-couple. Or on of those "more than friends but less than lovers" relationships as people call them.

"Hey, spiky hair dude's girlfriend," she heard a voice call to her.

Misaki peered up and saw one of the guys Mikan was always seen with. Right. One of her best friends. Natsume, was it, that supposedly walked out on them coincidently and caused the whole fight. If he was there, she was sure that Tsubasa would not have gotten as worked up as he did.

Of course, he, being Mikan's friend, had to be a nice kid and would never _purposely _do such a thing.

"Oh, you're-"

"Natsume."

Misaki grinned. "Yeah, I know. I heard from Mikan."

He sneered. "Well it's good to know that she talks about someone other than her _boyfriend_ with you guys." He sat down on the swing beside her.

Misaki looked at him sympathetically. Somehow, he reminded her of Tsubasa when they were fourteen. That "I don't give a shit about the world" attitude was something they both had in common whether they liked it or not. A grin crept up on her face at this.

"Sucks to be you, doesn't it?" she asked, keeping her voice soft.

"Back at you," he growled. "I don't even know why anyone would like that bastard. Heck, I don't even like him."

Misaki narrowed her eyes. "Don't say that. Tsubasa doesn't try to be mean. If anything, he always puts others before himself."

"Whatever."

She gave a light chuckle. "Well, I on the other hand, can understand why you like Mikan perfectly."

"I do not-"

"Don't go all 'denial phrase' with me. I'll have you know that I do not put up with sissy talking." He glared at her, but she crossed her arms and gave him the look that a mother gives her children when they're being stubborn. "Jealousy seriously eats up a person, doesn't it."

He snorted. "What? Spiky haired bastard has another chick?"

"No. With Tsubasa and I, it's… complicated. In all of the years that I've known him, we've never had an argument, you know? And even when we did, one of us would eventually go back to the other. Usually him. But you don't know how he feels for his sister. He's practically raised her, from small. Sure Narumi is their father, but Tsubasa's the one who's taken the responsibility, who's taught Mikan right and wrong. He won't come back to me this time. I know."

Natsume rolled his eyes. "Why don't you go back to him then? It seriously doesn't have to be that complicated, woman."

Misaki smiled. "Guys seriously think they're the only ones with pride. Then tell me, if you were in my position, would you go back?"

"If I was in your position, I'd break up with him in a second."

Misaki raised one eyebrow.

"Well, not that I'm suggesting it for you. I mean he's a bastard and all that, but if you really love him and crap…"

Misaki raised both of her eyebrows.

Natsume sighed. "Okay, look. You don't have to pay attention to a single shitty word that comes out of my mouth, but don't expect the guy to go back to you every time. You can play hard to get, but there's seriously a limit to how long you can keep that up. Have you thought that eventually he'll get tired of you? Have you ever thought of compromising and working it out? Do you even really love him?"

She tiled her head and grinned. "So, Natsume, was it? How old are you again?"

"Woman, that's gross. You've got to be at least three years older than me."

She rolled her eyes. "Cut back the immaturity, kid. And here I was thinking that you were really mature for your age."

He shrugged. "Yeah? Well someone's gotta grow up faster than these apes." Then his face darkened. "The faster I grow up, the faster I can get out..."

Moment of silence...

"If you were me, what would you do?"

He smirked. "You're coming to a fourteen year old for advice. Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Misaki shrugged. "Well if I were you, I'd just go straight to him and apologize. Works with Mikan."

Misaki bit her lip and got up from the swing. "He's mad at me, sheesh. What am I supposed to do? Just awkwardly go up to him and go 'oh I'm really sorry for bitching then storming out on you'?"

"That's exactly what you're going to do, and if you don't comply, I'm going to drag you over to her house and make you apologize to him in front of me."

Misaki gasped in horror. "You _wouldn't_! Oh my god, I can't believe it. Mikan's been rubbing off of you!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" he growled.

She stared at him, and lowered her face. Natsume was just about to back away when Misaki reached out and pinched his cheeks while grinning haughtily. He slapped her hand away and glared menacingly.

"What the fuck?"

"You just want to see Mikan, don't you?" she accused.

He rubbed his cheeks with his hands. "Don't go pinching me whenever you want."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah… You coming with me or not?"

* * *

Turned out that the three of them, Tsubasa, Ruka and Mikan were standing outside of Mikan's house. Moreover, the atmosphere was tense. No, tense was not the word for it. Would you call a Mikan on the verge of tears leaning on a tree for support and Tsubasa grabbing Ruka by the collar and shoving him against the wall and sticking a fist out at him _tense_?

I don't think so.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Natsume demanded, not sure who to glare at so he gave each of them a look. "And what are you doing to Ruka? Release him now."

"Tsubasa, you're overreacting," Misaki added, stepping forward. "Lower your fist. The Tsubasa I know doesn't go around punching his sister's friends."

Tsubasa glanced at Misaki, who stared solemnly at him, and back to Ruka. His eyes flickered to and fro as if trying to make a decision. Finally, he stepped back and let Ruka down, but not before sneering, "_Friends_? What a joke."

Natsume dashed over to his best friend, who was breathing heavily. "You okay, man?"

Ruka looked at him. His eyes were wide with fear, uncertainty, and a flicker of _guilt_. Guilt? Natsume narrowed his own eyes accusingly while helping his friend up.

"What the fuck happened here?" he repeated.

Ruka just shook his head and adverted his glance to Mikan.

"Ruka." He turned back to Natsume. "You're not"- Natsume shot a glance at Tsubasa – " He didn't hurt you did he?"

"I better go," his best friend sighed.

"Ruka!"

"Save it Natsume," he said, glancing at Tsubasa himself, who remained silent, though they could all see that he was still fuming with anger. "It's clear I'm not invited here." He peeled Natsume's hand off of his shoulder and departed the scene, just like that.

"Ruka…" It was Mikan.

She looked tired. Strands of her hair were falling out of their pigtails. Her eyes were slightly swollen (she couldn't have been crying, could she?), and they looked dead.

"Don't go…" she whispered, even though he was already gone too far to hear her. "Don't… leave me…" Surprisingly, she turned to him with a begging look. Before he knew it, Mikan ran up to him and gripped on his shirt tightly. Her tears flowed out of her eyes like waterfalls and her voice was dry but desperate. "Natsume, make him stay. He'll listen to you! Make him stay! Don't let him go away from me! Don't… Please!" She dropped to her knees, looking so _broken_. "Please."

Tsubasa couldn't stand seeing his sister like this any longer. He turned and entered the house, shutting his eyes. Misaki followed him with one last glance at Mikan. Natsume couldn't blame them. He could hardly stand seeing her like this.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Ruka," sob, "left me."

Natsume's face hardened. "He left? Just like that?"

"He told me I wasn't the one…" more sobbing, "He told me he didn't deserve me. He said he couldn't give me what I wanted, that I belonged to someone else. He told my brother about _us_. Then he told me he wanted to break up with me. It was… I… Natsume, bring him back! I don't give a shit about this other person he mentioned. I only want Ruka! Please, you can make him see, Natsume. Only you…"

His face was as hard as stone. For a brief moment, Natsume wondered if Hotaru felt like this all the time when she put on that façade of hers. "I can't."

"What?" She looked up at him with her teary eyes and demanded, "Why?"

"Cause I knew what would happen the minute I walked out of the restaurant."

Mikan's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"I saw Tsubasa. I knew he would cause you to break up. Heck Mikan," he laughed, "That was _why _I walked out of the fucking restaurant."

She shook her head and lifted her grip off of his shirt. "No. I know you. You wouldn't do such a thing. You didn't…"

"I did," he assured her with a faint smile. "I can assure you one hundred percent that I was the reason why Ruka broke up with you."

She glared at him so intensely and passionately that nothing in the world could have taken his eyes off of hers. The tears on her face only made her more beautiful, in a sort of disheveled way "Natsume, I'm going to slap you."

"You won't."

She raised her hand.

"You can't."

And it went smack across his face.

One hand automatically went up to the spot where her palm contacted with his cheek. He slowly turned his head around and met her eyes once more.

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "If you think this proves anything, you're wrong."

"Heh," she laughed weakly before turning and running into the house. A flash of hurt came across his face, but she never had time to see.

_If you think this makes me stop loving you, you're wrong Mikan._

* * *

"Dare you repeat what you just said, Nogi?"

Ruka shrugged and tried to look indifferent as he looked into the hard, violet eyes of Mikan's best friend. There was a murderous gleam in them that was seriously starting to freak him out. And not just because she used to sneak snapshots of him either.

"You heard me."

"What?" she hissed, locking her eyes to his. "That you broke up with her because you were afraid she would break up with you first?"

He shrugged "indifferently" again. "Even I have pride, Imai."

"That's not the point," she said in a calm voice, so calm that it was eerie. "The point is, Nogi, that she wasn't going to break up with you in the first place and you perfectly knew that. I know that you love her, so why did you break up with her? That's what I don't get. If you knew what was good for you, you'd go and reconcile with her right now. It's not too late."

Ruka laughed. "Seriously Imai? Reconciliation? What makes you think that I _regret_ my decision in the first place?" Hotaru opened her mouth, but was silenced by Ruka's glare. The first glare she ever saw him give. "What makes you think I have the right to date Mikan in the first place? I've been a horrible guy, an even more horrible best friend. From the moment I asked her out and she accepted, I knew that this relationship couldn't last long."

"Just listen to yourself."

"No, _you _listen." He drew her face up to his so that there was barely an inch between them. "Cause I'm one hundred damn percent sure that Mikan's valentines weren't blank when Natsume showed them to me. Don't think I don't know who sorted out the candy grams either."

He saw Hotaru's demeanor flinch when he accused her and smiled a satisfactory smile.

His face turned solemn again. "How could you? No matter how much you hate Natsume, you can't just do this to him. This – not even Sumire would have done this. What do you have on him that makes you hate him so much anyway?"

She narrowed her eyes and he was certain that her façade would crack. Instead, however, Hotaru's mouth curved up into a confident smile.

"He's your best friend."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed in a bored way. "Well, Nogi. If you had the brains to figure out that I was the mastermind behind all this, I think you can decipher the meaning by yourself."

He was defeated. Once again. This was no different from grade three and all those years onward that Hotaru bullied him. Again and again Ruka tried to retaliate, but somehow, in the end she always won. He was positive that he would win this one argument, but she managed to crush him. Again.

"How can you be so cold?" he demanded.

He hadn't expected this sentence to shatter her defenses. For a second, her face just fell and he saw the real expression that she'd been holding back. Her face just looked more appalled than anything. She seems to have realized this as well, but couldn't seem to pull a straight face.

Hotaru jabbed a finger to his chest and applied so much pressure to it that you'd think that single finger was what supported her from crumbling. Maybe it was. He didn't know. All he knew was that it was the first time he'd seen her vulnerable, helpless side. Ruka didn't know why but he was more scared than anything. Scared that any moment now, she'd crumble into a heap of nothing and never get the courage to get up again. Of course he knew better than that. She was Hotaru Imai. The chances of that happening were about as much as apolocalapse.

"Did you ever know that Mikan was the only person to ever love me?" she choked out. Hotaru lifted her head and glared at him full force. "And you two took her away from me. Maybe that's what I have on you and Natsume." She sneered, "You know, Ruka…" His heart skipped a beat when she said his name – though he was certain it was because of fear. Her face erupted into a maniacal smile. "One day, I'm going to _destroy _you."

Ruka was past speechless. But somehow he still managed to utter a "you are unstable, woman."

"You'd think that being the genius I am, I'd know that by now."

She fainted, but not before reaching up and landing her lips on his, even if it was just for a brief moment. In his arms, Hotaru felt so small and fragile. He never realized that the demon was in fact so breakable.

Didn't they say all geniuses were insane? Ruka chuckled to himself.

He slumped down along with her body, sighed heavily and dragged a heavy hand over his face.

"Fuck, I think she just destroyed me."

_End of Grade Eight._

* * *

**4.6k words. 5.4k including my corner and disclaimer. o.O Haha hope you guys are happy. It surpassed the length of my ROW chapters.**

**Oh yes, and readers, that's the sort of RukaHotaru I had in my mind when I mentioned it a few chapters and several months ago :). Believe it or not, my first (unpublished) fanfic was on RukaHotaru. I still have the outline and the last chapter, but no, I will not publish it just because it pretty much, well, sucked. I think it was one of those pieces where the idea couldn't be depicted properly, kinda like Her Conditions (now known as _I don't date fakes _by _Easily Written_). I hope this one was done well though.**

**-IndigoGrapefruit**


	9. Grade Nine

**Indigo's Corner  
Hmm, yea. 9th chapter. They've gotten longer. I was going to say something here but I forgot. Anyway, enjoy**

**Dedication  
To: Crimson Memories. Hell ya, you've brought back the flaming pashion of SumireKoko love to me :)  
And... Romantically Loveless. This chick cheated, I tell you. I told her I was going to update at 200 reviews and bam! She reviewed me. So much for a lazy weekend...**

**Disclaimer  
Disclaimed.**

* * *

**Grade 9  
Best Friends**

"What are you doing here?" she demanded vehemently, annoyed that this has been the third time her doorbell rang that day.

It was quite a sight to see Mikan in turmoil, even though he could see that she was disheveled from getting up. Furthermore, her cheeks were red and her words were slurred. It certainly did not take a genius to figure out that Mikan Sakura was down with something. The sniffing of her nose confirmed that.

"_You_ are not supposed to show up at my door at _this_ time of the day. In fact, Natsume," she hissed, "_You_ are not welcome to show up at this door any time of the day."

He rolled his eyes. "Go back to sleep," he told her, forcing her way in. "I'm staying here for the night." Her flimsy arms were no barriers to him and before Mikan could digest what happened in her tired brain, Natsume found himself a comfortable spot on her couch.

Slamming the door behind her, she went on a furious rant. "How _dare _you show up and enter my house like you belong here?! As if it's not bad enough that everyone comes to me looking for trouble the very day I'm sick. Can't I just be relieved of your face for one day?"

Playing casually with a sofa cushion, Natsume drawled, "So who made it before me?"

* * *

She was tackled and strapped in bed earlier that morning, forbidden to move even one metre. Narumi and Tsubasa both eyed their daughter/sister, Tsubasa gripping the thermometer that stated 37.5 degrees Celsius. Mikan just bit her lip and whimpered like a poor puppy.

"I don't care if you have a presentation in English that's going to be worth 15% of your mark," the father growled, "You are staying home today missy. I'll make sure of that."

"He's right, you know?" The brother chipped in. "I'm not letting you go to school and pass out in one of your classes either. Not with a fever like this." He waved the thermometer in front of her for emphasis.

"Fine," she grumbled, "But I'll have you know I'm letting Sumire down. She'll be bitching at me later."

"Language, Mikan," and "I'm sure your friend will understand," spoken by both brother and dad in respective order.

So there she was now, her digital clock flashing 12:48pm, and her head feeling like it's weighing 10 tons. Yup, stuck inside a house all because her very lovable father and brother decided to make a tag team. But on the bright side, her English class hasn't started yet. Thank god for whoever made English fifth period on her schedule. She could still make it.

Flipping over her thick blanket, Mikan sat up, massaging her head for a few minutes to stop the throbbing. Finding her bunny slippers, she strode to her bathroom and peered in the mirror.

Gosh, did she ever look messed up. Her hair exploded and was sticking up in all sorts of places, the short strands spiking out everywhere and the long strands drooping down. Her lips were chapped and her nose, eyes and cheeks were red. Really horrible, yes, but nothing a little makeup couldn't fix.

After splashing cold water on her face and wiping it all off with a towel, Mikan concluded that she was hungry and ventured downstairs into the kitchen to make herself lunch. In doing so, she found a two notes on the fridge, one by Narumi, stating that he had to work late into the morning hours today, and another by Tsubasa telling them that he would be gone that weekend (it was Friday) with Misaki and Kaname to visit Tono. Narumi also told her in the note to take care of herself and not be reckless – oh, and to remember to take her medicine.

"Dad…" she muttered with a smile, shaking her head. "You worry too much."

She took out two pieces of whole wheat bread and popped them into the toaster, then went back for some margarine and fruit jam. The bread popped out of the toaster, crispy but not too hard, just the way she liked it. As Mikan was spreading her jam, she heard the doorbell ring and echo throughout the house.

She froze for a split second before concluding it was just one of those house to house advertisers, since there was no way it could be her dad and brother.

Mikan had just washed the knife and dipped it into the margarine before the doorbell began ringing repetitively. She dropped the knife and headed down the hall. Whoever at her door must be frantic. Really, opening the door in early February weather in her pajamas was not good for her health.

The cold breeze blew right in her face, making her body shiver. Whoever outside the door seemed to cold as well, as the stranger was warming their hands with their breath.

"Hello?"

Bright, green eyes gazed upon her, and a few black strands of hair leaked out of the furry hood. Her ears and cheeks were rosy red compared to the pale complexion she usually had. Sumire's face was red from the cold, but her eyes were red from crying.

Mikan stood there gawking, not knowing what to do exactly until Sumire yelled, "L-let me in dammit! I'm f-freezing!"

Regaining her senses, Mikan jumped and cried, "Oh!" before ushering Sumire into the blissful warmth of the house and shutting the door behind her. Fiddling her hands, Mikan commented nervously, "Uh, Permy, about the presentation. My dad and bro ganged up on me today but I can still go make it to English on time and – oh my gosh, Permy, you look horrible! What happened?"

While Mikan was ranting on about the project, Sumire had taken off her jacket and hood, shaking snow everywhere as she did, and giving Mikan a good view of her face and hair. She didn't look quite as bad as Mikan but she was getting there.

"You look horrible!"

Sumire rolled her eyes as she took a hanger off the hook and draped her jacket around it. "Speak for yourself." She put the hanger back on the rack. "I feel like shit…"

"Permy, you're a mess. Your mascara's running. Let's get you cleaned up before that harmful substance gets into your eyes."

She compelled Sumire into the bathroom and started splashing her face with water until Sumire got angry and announced that she can do it herself, thank you very much. Mikan stood to the side, but she saw that as Sumire was washing off her mascara, she was also washing off the tears that made their way down her cheeks as she gave small, almost inaudible sobs.

"Honey, your eyes are going to get red if you keep rubbing them," Mikan intervened, before Sumire started scraping off skin.

"What do you want me to do!?" she half yelled, "First you tell me to wash off and then you're all like 'stop'!! What do you expect of me, Mikan!?"

Sumire's yelling was giving Mikan a headache, but she stood there with a hard face nonetheless, lips tightly shut. It did the trick, for as soon as Sumire stopped yelling, she immediately felt remorse and apologized.

"Oh I'm being a bitch again, aren't I?" she said in a half bitter, half melodramatic tone. "I'm sorry Mikan," sincerely this time. She started hiccupping from her sobs.

"Dear, dear," Mikan sighed, patting Sumire's back. "Come into the kitchen and we'll talk it out, kay dear?"

Hic – nod – hic.

While Sumire sat on one of the chairs, Mikan quickly made two cups of instant hot chocolate and another sandwich. She caught the feeble attempts Sumire made to rub her eye and stop the tears out of the corner of her eye. She made two quick trips back and forth – one for the sandwich and one of the cups of hot chocolate, before seating herself beside her friend.

"Eat up, you'll feel better," she suggested with a smile.

"No I won't," Sumire grumbled, but obliged anyway, yet only taking small nibbles and sibs. "What is this on the toast? Butter?"

"Margarine."

She dropped the sandwich immediately like it was a hot potato. "I'm eating a sandwich covered in fat!?" Sumire all but screeched.

"Sumire," Mikan stated seriously, "I don't think that's a problem for you. In fact-" her eyes flashed over Sumire' s skinny wrist and hands that showed the shape of her bones and veins quite clearly "- you're too skinny for your own good. If I knew better, I'd say you were anorexic."

Instead of snapping back with an "I'm not anorexic; you're just jealous!" as the normal Sumire would have, she bit her lip and stared at Mikan for a long time before murmuring, "Mikan, tell me the truth, do I look like a whore?"

"Not really."

"Not…really?"

"No," elaborated Mikan, "You do wear some very revealing tops and short skirts, and you put on a lot of makeup. When boys flirt with you, you'd flirt back, and you can be really bitchy sometimes but you're not a whore Sumire. It's not like you go around stealing other people's boyfriends and sleeping with everyone."

"But that's still what whores do, and even if I'm not a whore, I'm still a slut."

Mikan sighed exasperatingly. She did not want to go back and convince Sumire all over again that she wasn't a slut either. "Do I have to get a dictionary and define the meanings of the words before you're convinced that you're neither a whore or a slut?"

Sumire hugged herself and stared at the table in response.

"So what's gotten you so hung up over the subject anyway?" Mikan asked carefully, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "Did someone call you a whore?" Sumire flinched. "Oh my god, someone did! Tell me who he is right now!" Before she could help it, Mikan turned her head and sneezed. She reached for a tissue, "well… after I get better that is."

"Don't," the word escaped Sumire's lips before she could stop and Mikan's ears perked up. "Never mind…"

"But really, what's the reason you came here anyway? I didn't even know you knew where I lived! And don't even try to lie, Sumire Shouda. I _know _something's wrong. You wouldn't normally get upset if someone called you a whore."

"Wakako has second lunch, so I couldn't talk to her. And it's not like she knows the whole story anyway."

"What about Koko?"

Every tissue, cell, and organ that made up Sumire froze on the spot. Mikan opened her mouth to inquire if she was okay but the words never made it out of her mouth. Sumire let out a teensy sob before screeching out, "Don't even mention him!"

"Why? Aren't you two best friends? I thought you liked Koko, Sumire."

And before you knew it, a stream of words erupted from Sumire's mouth in the form of sobs and cries. "I – I – No, I don't _like_ Koko. I _love_ him." Her tears were now running freely. "He's the only person in my life I give a whole fucking damn about – no offense Mikan." Mikan nodded. "But he doesn't give one damn about me. He's just off with his best pal Kitsuneme and the two of them are like sun and moon! He doesn't even look at me let alone talk to me! And when he does, it's always something wrong about me – what I did, what I said, how I look." Hard sob. "And – and I do everything for him, Mikan. I put on showy outfits and put on makeup like a whore and I flaunt myself shamelessly but he's never wanted to look at me!

"And today in Hospitality, he called Anna Umenomiya pretty. He's never called _me_ pretty, never! What's so good about her anyway Mikan? She has the ugliest shade of bubblegum hair that flies all over the place, and she's not even popular!" Mikan handed over a tissue, which Sumire happily took and wiped her face. "I was so angry! I screamed at him but he wouldn't so much as bat an eyelash, so I slapped him right across the face. And he – he – he _smiled_ at me and said, 'don't touch me, you whore!' He meant every word of it, Mikan, he _did_," Sumire exclaimed, slurring the words as a fresh stream of tears trailed from her eyes.

Face buried in arms and crying shamelessly, Sumire sobbed, "I never meant to become a whore, Mikan, really. All I wanted was for him to call me pretty, even once! Once would be enough for me."

"There, there," Mikan sighed, patting her back, "I understand, Permy… But he seriously _smiled_ while saying something so horrible?! I know Koko smiles all the time, but surely he can't smile while doing that!"

"He did," she sniffed, "That's the only thing he ever did for me. He was miserable when he first came, so I told him to smile. He smiled, and now, never once has he frowned. Ever. It's killing me. If he's mad at me, can't he at least scream? But no, he just has to have that permasmile on his face. At least if he scowled, it wouldn't hurt this bad."

"Wait, Sumire, it was you who told him to smile?" Mikan inquired, "To smile always?"

She nodded, reaching for another tissue and adding a used one to the pile. "He never smiled when he came. It was painful how he frowned all the time. But once, when we were alone together, he grinned. He has such a beautiful grin, Mikan! I told him to smile always. And he did." She had a little grin on her face as she said that.

"But Sumire, wouldn't that also be constricting him? He can't freely cry or glare or even scowl when he feels like it. Even if he smiles always, he can't always be happy, can he? There are times when people need to let it out. He may smile, but don't you think it's forced at times?"

"I – It's not like I don't want him to let it all out, but that he won't. He just won't anymore. He only smiles."

"Well I'm sure he'll do that if you ask him, Permy. It worked the first time, didn't it? You can make him do miraculous things that normal people can't. It just shows how much you mean to him." Mikan peered at the clock. "Now darling, we'd better get to school before English starts."

Sumire sniffed. "I'm going, but there's no way you're going Mikan. You can't last thirty minutes, let alone an hour fifteen in that state of yours. Besides, you'd just spread your icky germs to everyone in the class."

"Pfft, if I'm not going, neither are you. You're not going back to school in this state and making a complete fool out of yourself. Besides, everyone's going to be doing their presentation today and you can't do ours without me. Now listen here, you and I are going to stay in this house and watch movies and pig out on chocolate until we're as fat as pigs, you got me? You need to put on some weight anyway. Bony people scare me."

Sumire rolled her eyes.

"You know, a friend once told me that he hated it when I cried because humans look ugly when they cry. But darling, you have this radiance of confidence around you that makes you pretty no matter what. Even if these words are from me, not Koko, you know it's true. You know what, I think I should talk him into getting glasses. If you're not pretty in his eyes, that guy _has_ to be blind."

"Okay, Mikan, you can stop."

"Glad to know the old Sumire's back."

Some three hours an hour later, Sumire was blubbering like a baby and clinging tight onto Mikan. On one side of the couch was a huge pile of chick flicks that Mikan owned, and on the other was a bowl of popcorn. They were currently watching He's Just Not Into You and Gigi just lashed out at Alex, leaving him speechless.

"Did you see that?" Sumire half sobbed. "She shunned him. Oh my god, that was so sad. He totally has a thing for her."

"Uh, you know," Mikan said, "I'm beginning to think this is not such a good idea… I mean the movie _is _called He's Just Not That Into You… We wouldn't put any ideas in your head."

"But it's just so emotional!" said Sumire, clinging tighter.

"You might not wanna do that cause I'm still sick and –"

Mikan was interrupted by another rude series of doorbells. Heavily sighing, "I'll get it," she slipped her feet into her bunny slippers as Sumire scowled, "No way you're leaving me alone here, you're supposed to be watching the movie with me," and paused the movie. Said two girls made their way from the living room to the front door and opened it.

And Mikan realized that it was probably not a such a good idea for Sumire to have followed after all, for standing outside the door, his hands in his pockets and a brilliant smile plastered across his face, was Koko.

"You!" was Sumire's first reaction.

Her second was to slam the door in his face, but Koko was faster and thus the door was blocked with his arm. "Wait just a minute Permy. I haven't even said anything! It's rude to slam the door in someone's face, especially since I've been looking for you all over. Oh, hi Mikan! Can I come in?"

"Sure…" Mikan said, at a loss for words, gaining a hiss from Sumire.

So that was how the second uninvited visitor invited himself in.

After the door was shut and before he could walk any further, however, Sumire blocked the hallway with her arm, her palm slapping the wall and startling both Mikan and Koko. Her green eyes flashed angrily as she confronted the last person that she wanted to see at the moment with a "why are you here?"

"I was looking for you."

"Leave."

A flash of hurt came across Koko's face. "Why?" he asked.

"Because," Sumire said contemptuously, tilting her head up and looking down at him, "I don't like you. And when I don't like someone, Koko, the Natsume and Ruka fan club does not like someone, the cheerleaders and jocks don't like someone, Alice Academy does not like someone."

"I'll…just…go now," Mikan squeaked and slipped out of the hallway up the stairs, not that either one of them noticed. But unknown to them, their loud voices echoed throughout the house, and she could hear them quite clearly.

"But you do like me Permy," Koko protested, "You always have. We're besties, remember? You said so yourself."

Sumire crossed her arms stubbornly. "Times have changed and people have changed. Maybe I don't want to be friends with you. Maybe I like my groupies better."

"Really now?" Koko was not convinced. "Well I'm just here to apologize. I know you're upset that I called you a whore earlier." Sumire flinched. "I didn't mean it, really. I know you're mighty sorry that you slapped me too, so now we can be friends again!"

A loud smack was heard as Sumire's palm came in contact with Koko's cheek for the second time that day. Upstairs Mikan flinched and muttered to herself, "Ooh, that's gotta hurt…"

"Ah, so you really don't miss me," Koko commented, rubbing his now red face. "Oh well, I tried." He turned and walked toward the door.

At a loss, Sumire stayed frozen on the spot. Then, when his hand reached for the knob, it all slammed back on her. She hissed through her teeth, "Kokoroyomi you liar. You say you never want to hurt me yet you insult me with a smile on your face. At least if you scowled, it wouldn't have hurt that much. You say these endearing words to be about how you'd put me before anyone else, then turn your back and walk out on me without half a decent apology. Tell me the truth for once! Say it to my face. I'm worth nothing to you, am I right?"

It happened so fast. Koko whirled around 180 degrees and with three huge strides, stood right in front of her. He put his hands on her shoulders and leaned down on her, his face serious and unsmiling for the first time in years. Sumire blinked twice, slowly coming to the realization that this was a guy who was bigger than her, who could tower over her skinny body, who could _hurt_ her.

"You mean everything to me, Permy."

Despite his height, she held her head high. "You lie. Why don't you just admit that I'm an ugly hag who's going to grow old and single because let's just face it, I'm nowhere as pretty as Anna Umenomiya."

"So that's what this whole thing's all about? Really, I mean, you've always liked looking in the mirror, but I never thought you'd be that vain."

"I am not vain!" A frustrated screech came, "The truth of the fact is that you've never called me pretty Koko. Not once in my life. Is it too much to ask of you to compliment me once in my life like you've never done?"

An exasperated groan escaped Koko's lips and he reached out and embraced Sumire in an affectionate hug. It wasn't a couple hug – more out of reassurance than passion – yet it was not purely platonic either. He stroked her hair repetitively.

"You're not that kind of person Sumire. You're pretty because you know you're pretty. You don't need people to tell you that. It's your confidence that's appealing to others. You don't know how others envy you."

"It'd be nice to hear it from your lips for once," she grumbled.

He let go of her and cupped her face in his hands, lowering his face to her level and beaming. "Alright, if it makes you feel better, you're pretty okay? You've always been pretty. You have a pretty face, pretty eyes; even your perms are pretty. All happy now?"

"If you promise never to smile while call me a whore again. Be angry while you're angry okay? Don't feel one emotion and show the opposite."

"Deal."

She hugged him again. "You're my best friend and marriage alternative, you know? You've always been."

"Oh really?" he exclaimed brightly, stroking her hair once again. "I never knew!"

"Yea."

"Soooo, best friend, want me to walk you home."

She got her coat off of the hanger and put her arms through the sleeves. "Be my guest. Mikan!"

"Yesss?" she answered from upstairs.

"Lock the door for us, mmkay?"

"Mmkay."

So that was the end of that ordeal. Now about that unfinished movie and the big bowl of popcorn…

* * *

"It's not really of your concern," Mikan said to Natsume. "Why are you here in my house sitting on my couch?"

Natsume's crimson eyes darkened a shade, growing black around the edges. "You know why." He got touchier lately when it came to the subject of his dad. At least, that was what Ruka told Mikan. She hadn't a proper conversation with him for a while.

"Well you have Ruka for that."

"Well I went to his house but no one was there. When I called him, he told me his mom just came back from France so the whole family's going out for tonight. Look, you're the only other person I know who's at home. I came here dreading that you weren't. Where would I go for the night then? I'd probably freeze to death on the streets or something. Seriously, what kind of father kicks his son out in the middle of deadly winter?"

"Well you came at the wrong time. I'm home alone, and my dad's policy is that you cannot be home alone with a member of the opposite sex at any time unless it's a relative."

Natsume narrowed his eyes. "So you're going to send me outside and freeze, aren't you, because Mikan Sakura is such a nice and generous person."

Mikan's jaw tightened. "No, I'm not going to send you outside, god, so you can stop with the assumptions. You act as if I hate you or something."

He threw the pillow cushion on the other sofa and replied dryly, "No, you don't hate me, Mikan, in fact, you just can't talk to me without being sarcastic and edgy. You just don't like seeing my face let alone the whole of me outside of your door. You don't hate me at all."

Mikan plopped onto the couch beside him. "I don't. Really."

Silence.

"What happened to us?" she finally sighed, "You were my best friend Natsume, my first friend."

"But he was your first boyfriend," Natsume deadpanned, "So naturally you'd choose him over me."

"We're on friendly terms now."

"Oh really?" her best friend questioned, raising his eyebrows at her. "So you don't feel anything for him. You're not mad at him for pinning after your best friend right after he broke up with you – and as a matter of fact, Imai probably has a thing for him too. You don't think it's suspicious at all. You don't feel awkward around him whenever he jokes about the things he would have done if you two were still together. You're not convincing yourself that you're over him."

"I'm not," Mikan growled, "And he was also your best friend."

"Was he now? So if Imai steals Mr. Bear, your favourite teddy, and keeps him forever and ever while rubbing it in your face, she's still be your best friend?"

"That is irrelevant-"

"It is completely relevant!" he hissed. "In this whole damn world there's really no one you can trust but yourself. Only you know yourself inside out. Best friends will only ever be best friends, won't they?"

Pause. "I was once your best friend too."

Natsume closed his eyes and gulped. He did not miss the "once".

"I really am sorry about the breakup, you know?" he finally said. His response was neither genuine nor apathetic. It was more of statement than a question, actually, a confirmation statement. He wanted to know if she had forgiven him.

"Yea… It was really a messy breakup, wasn't it?" She smiled solemnly, "Despite Ruka-pyon and I still remaining friends. You know, now that I think back on it, we probably haven't been thinking much when we got together. Too caught up in the moment, you know? Albeit an awkward one." She chuckled at the memory of seeing him in a suit, red as a tomato.

"I'll never forget his face," added Natsume.

Mikan rolled her eyes. "You never even saw his face. You were too busy arranging textbooks and talking with Hotaru in the corner." She made a face.

In turn, he growled, "Sick people like you should just shut up and sleep."

She batted her eyelashes at him mockingly and said in a sugary sweet voice, "Only if you tell me a bedtime stowy, Nattie."

"No, just no, Mikan, never again. You're too old for stories. Just think happy thoughts."

Mikan growled and glared at him. "I. Want. My. Story. Nattie."

"Okay, fussy woman. Chill, seriously. Fever's getting to you, ain't it? Okay, so once upon a time there were two best friends. One of them was called Natsume…"

She beamed. "And the other was named Mikan..."

She woke up the next day leaning on his shoulder. She couldn't help the small, but warm smile that spread across her mouth as she closed her eyelids blissfully.

_End of Grade Nine._

* * *

**Ooh, yes. Catch the references? ;) It was fun making them. Love Alex and Gigi in He's Just Not That Into You.**

**And just when you thought my chapters are shortening ;)**

**Reviews are LOVE.**

**Heart,  
-IndigoGrapefruit**


	10. Grade Ten

**Indigo's Corner  
Thus, I present to you... Growing Up Grade Ten! Whoot whoot! Two more chapters to go! We're almost there folks! I'm so excited. It'll be the first chaptered story I've completed on GAFFN!**

**Dedication  
Jesus, Moses and Ghandi. 'Nuff said. (It's an inside joke) And also, ST darling.**

**Disclaimer  
Disclaimed.**

* * *

**Grade 10  
****Dating and Kids**

"Okay, one of you two – I don't care who – needs to get that pole out of your ass right now."

Oh the wondrous things double dating could do (not that you'd call it double dating when Hotaru's _date_ was Natsume), especially when emotions were sour between two members of the party. Things were not looking pretty for either four of them at the moment. Mikan was annoyed at Natsume for constantly "accidentally" making obscene comments about her date. Similarly, he was also annoyed at her for _going _on a date, period. Hotaru was enjoying the sarcastic comments going back and forth between those two. Yuu just sat back, intimidated, until things got a bit extreme.

Then he snapped.

Funny thing was, it all started when Yuu moved back – the class president attended another high school in grade nine. He still wore glasses, but now in the places of the braces he had in junior high were rows of shiny, white teeth. His confidence also grew, as noted by how he went up and greeted Mikan with a cheery smile. Once the shy school president, he now got along well with almost everyone, save for a few such as Sumire.

During lunch, he had boldly came up and asked Mikan on a casual date.

Mikan had said yes.

Natsume and Hotaru had heard the news from the grapevine. Hotaru confronted Yuu sometime in one of the later classes they shared together and gave her approval. Natsume, however, was not so easily convinced. He was relentless and told Yuu that he'd never have his approval, in which Yuu responded by suggesting that they'd go on a double date, which, with Hotaru's help, Natsume was forced to accept.

Thus, one thing led to another and came to this scenario.

Closing her eyes and sighing, Mikan suggested, "Hotaru, I think we should split up. This double date is not working. I can't even talk to Yuu properly with _him _there." She shot Natsume a glare, who slumped down on the seat sulkily as response. "Besides, let's face it. This is like impossible. Sorry to break it to you, but you and Natsume are _never _going to get together."

"Sure we will," Natsume replied, sliding his arm uneasily around Hotaru's shoulder. The latter sat there, immobile, and was trying to suppress a twitch. He turned and horribly sugarcoated his words, "Won't it, _darling_?"

It sounded like a threat.

Hotaru's mouth tilted up in a pressed smile and minutes later, Natsume gave a small wince and cringed. "Oh, Yuu, don't mind _darling_ Natsume. His OCD acts up at times."

"I do not have OCD!"

Pulling him out of the seat by his ear, Hotaru drawled, "Sure you do. You just don't know it. Come along now… Your date wants to go home and you better not make her wait."

He slapped her hand away and sat himself down comfortably again. "Oh, you can go home if you want. I'll even pay for the transportation." He slapped down a five dollar bill on her hand. "Meanwhile, I'm perfectly satisfied where I am."

"That's very rude of you to –"

His eyes flashed angrily to Yuu. "Did I talk to you? No. Keep your mouth shut and remember your place."

Slamming both hands down on the table loudly, Mikan stood up, one finger pressing against Natsume's chest and head tilting up to face him. Her expression was furious. "You do not talk that way to my date like that, you hear me? If you have a problem with Yuu, Natsume, then suck it up like a man. Seriously."

"Of course I don't have a problem with your freaking date," he said mockingly.

Mikan opened her mouth, but closed it again. She didn't even bother talking to you anymore. Plopping back down on her seat, she got out her wallet and pulled out two twenties, pressing them down on the table. She turned to Yuu and apologized, kissed him on the cheek and promised to make it up to him sometime. Then, she stomped out of the restaurant without looking at Natsume.

"God help us," Yuu commented sourly.

Natsume sat down, furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his fist tightly. He looked twice at Yuu, who had his eyes closed and was now muttering a prayer. Deciding that he had nothing to do in this boring place, he stood and left, but not before scoffing, "What kind of guy needs a girl to pay the bill for him?"

* * *

Mikan was having a bad day. A bad, bad day.

As soon as she came home, she felt the need to destroy something, anything. So she took the nearest thing and ripped it, the found out that it was her history essay. Still fuming, she started up her computer, only to find that the printer was out of ink. Convinced that the gods were conspiring against her, she decided to dial up a friend and ask her to print the paper for her. Hotaru, she knew, was already in a bad mood and would no doubt charge her for "printing fees", so she called Sumire.

Giggle. "Hello?"

"Sumire?"

"Oh hey Mikan! Hold on a second, will ya?" Mikan heard the phone being set down on the table.

After that, there were remote voices. She heard someone that sounded like Koko ask, "Who called?" and Sumire answer, "Mikan." In response to that, Koko told her, "Oh, say hi to her for me." Then a shriek of laughter came from Sumire and she picked up the phone once again.

"Sorry about that."

"Let me guess, Koko says hi?"

"Uh, yeah."

"So he's over."

"Uh, yeah."

"Did I interrupt anything?"

"Uh, yeah, sorta. We were having a pillow fight before you called."

Pause. "Right… Anyway, can you be a darling and print out an assignment for me? I sort of ripped it up in my fury of coming home from this horrible date. I swear, like everyone's getting more action than me. You and Koko are happily together, and Tsubasa-oniichan's away at Uni with Misaki-nee. Even Hotaru and Ruka–" she stopped, feeling uneasy mentioning the name of her ex "- even Hotaru's rumoured to be dating."

"Aw baby, it's okay," Sumire replied sympathetically. "If it makes you feel better, Koko and I would have never gotten together if not for you! Besides, you're only sixteen, no? You've got plenty of time to get a boyfriend." She lowered her voice into a whisper. "Besides, I heard college guys are like so much hotter."

She heard Koko call, "I heard that!"

Sumire moved her phone and yelled, "Love you too, honey!" She moved it back and said, "Anyway, I want details. Make sure you leave nothing out."

Briefly, Mikan explained to her about the whole fiasco – how Natsume did Yuu much injustice, how Hotaru was trying to help the situation but made it worse, how she told him to quit it a million times but he was too obnoxious and immature to act out a simple request, about Hotaru's hilarious OCD joke and how she was sick of having all these doting friends and brothers.

"Seriously, they could make a tag team together, the two of them. Tsubasa's all about the 'you're too young to date' and Natsume's all about the 'he's not the right guy for you' and whatever. You know what, I think my problem is that I need to date more inconspicuously," Mikan sighed.

"Natsume I can understand, but I thought your brother was laying off the dates," Sumire commented.

"He is, but not entirely. He still makes it conspicuous if he particularly dislikes any of them. He's been pretty cool with it though. Natsume on the other hand, is worse than my brother. I swear, he's like obsessing on me. Honestly, I see him everywhere I go and I don't even have any classes with him."

Sumire snorted. "It's just Natsume. What can you really do about him? He's way more stubborn and persistent than your brother. I doubt you'll be able to get him off your back that easily. You know what your problem is? You two need to bond more; you used to get along so well when you were children."

"That was before he had a problem with my dates," she deadpanned. "Come to think of it, I think the whole thing started with Ruka. Sure I was angry with him, but I forgave him after a few months. Ever since then, he's been getting more and more audacious. He thinks he can do just about anything because I'm his friend, and frankly, it's pissing me off a lot. Like, grow up man! I don't understand him at all. Seriously… I'm beginning to think he really does have OCD."

"Actually, I don't think that's it. Mikan, think back, like way back. Remember that day in grade six when I tried to bang your heads together?"

"You did?"

"Yeah. You know, his birthday."

Mikan racked her brain for a second, but to avail. All she remembered was that she gave the necklace. Her sight subconsciously adverted to the shelf where the other one of the set was placed. She walked over and brushed off the dust with her finger. She felt the clear lines where the word _friend _was carved. A tiny smile made its way to her lips at the nostalgia.

"No. I remember the necklace though."

"Right, so it was all Koko's fault." Mikan could practically see Koko grinning behind Sumire on the other side. "He told me that you guys were mutually attracted to each other. It sounded much like rubbish – at the time. You're going to kill me for saying this, but if not for the Ruka incident, I really do think that you and Natsume would have gotten together eventually. I'm pretty sure that he still has feelings to some extent."

There was silence. There was more silence. Then Mikan exclaimed, "You're not serious, Permy! That's like hilarious." She contradicted the comment with her dry voice. "He's so not into me."

"Honey, he may not love you but he likes you to some extent, enough to feel that you're slipping away from him, which is why he's trying so hard to hold on. You really can't blame him for acting like this you know." I opened my mouth but she beat me to it. "And you're probably thinking that he would have confessed, but really, what has he to offer? He's Natsume. It's not like he's special. Sure he's like totally hot but you don't even go for looks. He knows he's coming off as a jackass in your eyes, but it's not like he could do anything about it. In your eyes, he's just another guy, and he knows that perfectly. The only maybe advantage that he has is that he's your best friend, and that's not exactly a good advantage."

"Either you've been watching way too many dramas, or you've been reading way too many chick-lits."

"Ew. Who reads?"

"Yeah… so anyway, I'll send it to you right now. It'd be so great if you could print it out and give it to me before school tomorrow. I'll meet you at the front entrance, mmkay? I'm exhausted so I'm just going to go rest and you have a good evening with Koko and play safely. Bye!"

Mikan didn't even wait for Sumire's reply until she hung up. After sending the paper, she turned off her PC, her head throbbing with complicated thoughts she didn't have the energy to decipher.

Her last thought before barely making it over to the couch and collapsing on it, exhausted, was broken and dispersed. _Date…Yuu…Natsume…likes me…Sumire, you're delirious._

Hours later, she was awaken by her brother, who peered down at her, concerned. "Mikan, what's the matter?" Tsubasa inquired his sister, whose head was buried in a pillow, and limbs were lying limply as if she was exhausted.

Blinking the blur away, Mikan sat up and sighed. "Oh, you know, the usual, where I go on a date and a bunch of friends tag along. Let's just say it didn't end up pretty, mmkay?"

"As it should have! If it weren't for Misaki, I'd never have –"

"Brother!" She slapped him on the arm.

He smirked teasingly. "I – I mean, how was the date, Mikan?"

"Oh it was horrible," replied Mikan dryly. "Hotaru was nice and all but Natsume. Ugh. He was so persistent, tagging along and insisting we go on a double date when he clearly knows the guy. Gosh, it's just Yuu. I don't see what's the big deal. He's a nice kid, president and valedictorian of Alice Junior High. I don't see what's so bad about him. Natsume keeps going like 'he's changed too much' and 'you don't even know him that well anymore; in fact, you never did talk to him much in middle school anyway'. Then – can you believe this – he goes and ruins it all by going on the date and making obscene comments at every chance he gets. I can't even begin on how frustrating it is listening to him."

"Natsume – the kid you brought home in grade four?"

She rolled her eyes and punched her brother playfully. "Yea. He's been my best friend for ten years now and that's still what you remember him by? Geez, get over it, Tsubasa. I brought him home for a project. It's not that much of a big deal. Besides, what about the time when you had to do a project with Yuri? You brought her home, didn't you?"

Cockily smiling, Tsubasa replied, "Yea, but that doesn't count. She was les."

"Go search up the meaning of 'platonic' and come back when you're done."

He stood up, but not before messing up her hair with his rough hands. "I know what that means, little sister, and I haven't the time anyway. I gotta head back to campus now if I want to eat dinner tonight."

"Drive safely!" she called as he exited the house.

Finally, peace and quiet.

Mikan slumped down on the couch again, exhausted.

* * *

She hypothesized that he was stalking her. Now she knew it was true. How, you may ask. The answer was simple. Said stalker rang her doorbell Monday morning while she was changing, so she had to put on something decent in a rush and fly down the stairs to the door.

She looked discombobulated when she opened the door.

She looked discombobulated and annoyed when she opened the door to see the last person she wanted to see.

It did not help either that his first comment was, "Hey, wanna walk to school together with me?"

Fixing her shirt, she snapped back, "Why should I? Actually, I think a better questions is: why did you wake up early and come all the way here from your house just to ask me to walk to school with you?"

She noticed that he was trying hard not to look at her assets as she fixed the shirt. She glared at him, but he paid no heed.

He shrugged. "Well, we haven't been together lately and I figured that we could just hang out today."

She was pulling up her skinny jeans properly now. "Well, maybe it's because I have other things to do. I'm busy, Natsume. I have a life, and it can't just be about you. You are my best friend and all but I've got other things going on too. And I have to be there early today to pick up my paper for History."

A flash of hurt crossed his eyes and he looked down glumly, "Yeah, I guess… Things changed so much, didn't they? They've changed so much. It's like suddenly, you've got all these things – schoolwork, volunteering, dating. Don't you ever wish for once that we could just be you and me, like we used to be?"

She looked in his eyes. "I do," she told him. "I do."

"I'm not asking you for much," he said, "Just this one day. I just want you to spend one day with me."

Pressing her lips into a tight smile, Mikan told him, "Wait here for me."

She shut the door, ran upstairs at lightning speed and rushed everything. She fluffed the pillows and folded the blanket quickly but neatly. Then she practically threw all the textbooks into her backpack, adding a random book for DEAR time. Pulling it on her back, she ran downstairs and was about to slip into her shoes when she turned her head and saw a glint of red.

Walking over to the shelf, Mikan felt the smooth, cold surface of the rock, and all the letters on it once more. She snatched it and put it on, feeling the cool chain around her neck. Now everything felt right. She was going to spend this one day with her best friend. Her best friend and no one else.

Slipping on her sneakers, she opened the door to see said person on the other side, waiting for her. Locking the door, she told him, beaming, "I'm ready!"

* * *

It was weird, Mikan noted, as she was reminded of movies and stereotypes. It was like an awkward silence, but a quiet reminder at the same time. She knew that on screen, in books, and in real life that couples always held hands whenever they walked together. It was like some unspoken rule. Similarly, she always saw those junior high cliques link arms. She was once there too, except Hotaru thought it was immature, so she linked arms with Anna and Nonoko instead. Also, Misaki used to link arms with her all the time when she came over, especially when Tsubasa was around. It was like making note to him that Mikan was hers for the moment.

However, Natsume did neither.

Natsume held her wrist. And no matter how Mikan tried to wrap her mind around it, she couldn't come up with a meaning to that. It was like a gesture like that couldn't be defined; it was unique, and it felt very awkward. It was his way of telling her, of reminding her, that they were halfway between friends and couples.

They were best friends.

"Do you still have that necklace I gave you for your eleventh birthday?

With his free hand, he pulled the orange stone out from under his shirt. "I carry it around with me every day."

She was awed. "Are you serious? Every day? I don't believe you. Don't you take it off when you go to sleep or have a shower or something?"

"I do," he stated, "But I always put it back on after I'm done."

Somehow, she felt guilty for leaving the necklace on the shelf to collect dust when Natsume treasured it so. Mikan remembered Sumire's words and took them seriously for the first time. It was clear that Natsume treasured their friendship so. Maybe it had been her fault after all, that things had become rough between them.

Her eyes looked down to inspect the squares of the sidewalk. "Natsume, does it really feel like we're drifting apart?"

He squeezed her wrist, tightening his grip. Letting out a sigh, he explained, "It feels like you're slipping away from me. It's like you're moving on and you're leaving me behind."

She gripped the red stone around her neck. "Oh. I'm sorry Natsume. I'm really sorry."

"Your wrist is so small," he told her. "Have you been dieting lately?"

"Pfft, no. For your information, Natsume, my wrist is not small. Your hands are just abnormally big."

"Really now?" he teased.

She rolled her eyes and held out her hand. "You want to compare?"

He placed his hands on hers. She was reminded once again how big his hands were compared to hers. His fingers were at least half an inch longer than her fingers. She knew they were big, but she never knew they were that big. It was a shock, realizing how much he changed.

"See, told you," she smirked, withdrawing her hand.

"Likewise, I could just say that your hands are abnormally small," stated Natsume with a smirk.

"They are not! My hands are perfectly normal, thank you very much. You're the weird one."

His smirk grew. "Keep telling yourself that."

"Boys," she muttered under her breath, and that was the end of their conversation until we approached the intersection.

The step-step of their shoes filled up the silence between them. It felt comfortable for Mikan just to be around him. It was a comfort that she never experienced before. It was new and unfamiliar, but warm and safe at the same time. She let a little grin make its way to her lips as she matched my steps with his and he slowed his strides to match the size of hers.

They reached the intersection just when the light was red, but Mikan was absentminded and almost stepped onto the streets before Natsume's hand tugged on her wrist and pulled her back.

"You want to become roadkill?" he asked, serious yet jokingly at the same time.

She looked sheepishly at the red light and scratched her scalp with a small, "heh." Then she stepped back beside him, biting her lower lip.

"I wrote you a note on Valentine's Day, you know?" he suddenly blurted out. "Three years ago. Somehow, though, you never received it…"

"Oh really? What did it say?"

He shrugged and looked away. "Well, it had three words."

Scrunching up her face in hope, she asked meekly, "Best friends forever?"

She heard him snort. "You're amazing," he told her when he turned back. "You're amazing, you know that?" he repeated vehemently, staring into her eyes and she gulped. Shrugging and breaking off the eye contact, Natsume added, "Well, think what you will."

The light turned green and they crossed the road.

* * *

She got a text message from Hotaru at lunch asking her to pick up her little cousin from elementary and to drop him home because her aunt had to work overtime that day and she had Science Club. She texted back telling her that she was busy, to which her friend responded with an, _oh really? Busy spending time with Hyuuga, eh? You didn't seem too eager to spend time with him yesterday_. So Mikan decided to leave it before things got messy.

"So I'm really, really sorry," she apologized to Natsume after school. "I can't walk home with you today."

"Hey, don't sweat it," he replied. "I'll come with you. I don't have anything to do after school anyway."

Nervously, Mikan inquired, "Are you sure?"

He nodded his confirmation.

"Oh thank god, because Hotaru gave me all these directions, but I can't read them to save my life!" exclaimed Mikan as a joke. Hotaru's cousin attended the same elementary that they did when they were little. There was no way Mikan could have gotten lost. "You're a lifesaver, Natsume! I mean it."

He put a hand to his heart and gasped mockingly. "I feel hurt. You're just using me, aren't you? So you're just going to use and dispose of me like that. Maybe I'll go home after all."

"No!" she yelled as she held a death grip on his shirt. "Nooo! Natsume you can't! What if I get lost? What if I never make it? What it becomes dark and some rapist suddenly comes out of the trees and duct tapes my mouth and forces me into the car and –"

"Okay, okay, I'll accompany you," he assured her with a roll of eyeballs.

She grinned triumphantly.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Natsume said with a smirk as they arrived at the entrance of Alice Elementary School.

"It feels so nostalgic!" remarked Mikan as she entered the doors. They turned left to enter the main office.

They recognized the lady at the counter as Serina-sensei, their teacher for first grade. She looked the same she did ten years ago, except her hair was now a lighter shade of gray, bordering on white.

"Hey, how can I help you – Mikan?! Natsume?!" She had a double take when she saw them both.

"Hey Serina-sensei," they chorused, Mikan enthusiastically and Natsume monotonously.

"It's been so long!" she exclaimed. "How's high school? Are you two still friends?"

"You bet!" replied Mikan with a huge grin. "High school's fine. Busy, busy, busy. Man I miss those elementary days. We had fun here. I still remember that first day of school when you put us two together."

Natsume rolled his eyes, but couldn't completely suppress his grin.

Serina-sensei chuckled. "Well if I didn't, you two won't be here right now. My how you've grown. It seems just yesterday when you entered my classroom. You should come back and volunteer here someday. I'm sure the kids will love you. Now what brings you here, or are you just visiting?"

"Oh we will," Mikan assured her. "We're here to pick up Youichi Hijiri, Hotaru's cousin, I believe. We were instructed to drop him off at his home."

"Right. His mother did call us about that. Although she did say that Hotaru would come."

"Imai has Science Club," Natsume explained.

Senari-sensei smiled at them both. "Well, in that case, he's right there at the back."

They entered a small room and found a miniature gray haired boy sitting there, playing with rubber dinosaurs. He was attacking the brontosaurus with the tyrannosaur rex and making roaring sound affects when they entered, causing him to look up. His eyes went to and fro between Mikan and Natsume. He sat there, staring at them both, waiting for an elaboration.

Mikan kneeled down so she was at the same level as him. "Hi! My name's Mikan, and that's Natsume." She pointed to him. "We're friends of Hotaru and we're here to pick you up because she's busy."

He nodded, comprehending.

"So why don't I help you put away the dinosaurs, and you can get your backpack and we can go home," she suggested, as she took the dinosaurs away from him.

"Okay," he said.

Even though she said "we", Youichi just sat there as she put everything away in its rightful place. He stared up at Natsume, who stared back at him, bored.

"Whoo, done." Mikan said as she wiped her forehead with one arm. "Oh! Where's your backpack dear?"

She grabbed his backpack from the coat hanger and brought it to him. She lifted one hand to put it though the straps but he slapped away her hand and yanked the backpack from her. He put it on and glared at her full force.

"Don't touch me, ugly hag!" he exclaimed to Mikan's horrified face.

Natsume stifled a snicker, which earned him a stomp on the foot. He cringed, but more to laughter than pain.

"That's not funny!" Mikan exclaimed. "Who taught you that language? Kids your age shouldn't know those words! Come to think of it, you there!" She turned to Natsume, eyes narrowing accusingly. "You called Senari-sensei a hag when you were in first grade! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

His eyes flickered to Youichi, and he smirked. "Not a bit."

Youichi looked at Natsume with shining eyes filled with idolization and worship, something Mikan did not get one bit. He even gasped when Natsume grinned at him.

He went up to Natsume and tugged on his sleeve. Natsume knelt down and Youichi whispered something in his ear. His crimson eyes widened and narrowed again. He looked at the kid and nodded. Youichi seemed to worship him even more than before.

Mikan was silent all the way back to Youichi's house. Rather, she was listening to him strike up conversations with Natsume and sulking. She did try to participate in the conversation once or twice, but they both looked at her awkwardly, and she shut her mouth. Loosing interest, she let them walk ahead, straying behind and pretending to take interest in random aspects of the scenery, like the tree that looked particularly like an umbrella, or those white, fluffy clouds up ahead on the blue sky.

She was so caught up in her reverie that she was taken by surprise when she heard Natsume ask, "You have your keys, kiddo?"

Youichi nodded, pulling them out from his pocket. He inserted the key into the keyhole and opened the door into the house.

"You'll be alright?" Natsume asked.

Youichi nodded.

"We'll see you around then," he told him.

"Bye Natsume-nii," Youichi responded.

From behind Natsume, Mikan smiled briefly and gave a little wave, which he responded to by slamming the door and locking it.

"What the hell?!" she exclaimed in frustration, throwing her arms in the air and turning around. She stomped away furiously. "I don't understand! What did I do?! Why does he hate me so much?"

Natsume caught up to her with a light jog. He put a hand on her shoulder and assured her, "He doesn't hate you."

"Sure he doesn't, _god_," she hissed, dismissing his hand.

"He doesn't. Really. He told me you were pretty."

"You're probably just lying to make me feel better," she concluded with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm not!"

She slowed down and sighed, placing both hands on the straps of her backpack. He gave her an assuring pat on the back, which she ignored. She inhaled in and out deeply to ease her frustration.

"I don't understand," deadpanned Mikan. "He clearly doesn't like me. If he liked me, he wouldn't have treated you like god and me like dirt. I can see the difference, you know? I'm not blind. I don't get it! I'm usually good with kids! Where did I go wrong this time?"

"You're mad because we were ignoring you on our way home." It was a statement.

"A bit," she admitted. "You were the one who wanted to 'spend time with your best friend' today and I just don't understand him."

He slung an arm casually around her shoulder and told her, "Hey, I'm sorry, okay? I promise, I'll make it up to you when we walk home."

"My house is like five minutes away from here."

"Well, a lot can happen in five minutes. Trust me."

"Really?" drawled Mikan.

He grinned. "You know, it's really not that hard. You should just look at it this way – Youichi's just like me when I was younger. I'm surprised that you didn't make that interpretation." He tilted his head back and mused, "It's interesting, really, looking back at someone who thought identical to what I did when I was his age. It's like watching when I was nine from right now. As for him, he just worships me because I seem like an older version of him. He wants to be like me. And he doesn't hate you Mikan, I'm sure; I didn't hate you when I was nine."

"You're lying," she accused disbelievingly. "You just don't want me to feel bad."

He looked at me and shook his head. "I don't lie. I avoid the truth, but I don't lie."

Mikan raised her eyebrows and challenged him. "Right. So if I asked you a question right now, will you answer it truthfully?"

He grinned back cheekily. "I may or may not answer it at all depending on the question."

She snorted. "Yea. Whatever. So why do you keep crashing my dates anyway?"

He shrugged and looked down. "I dunno. They're just not right for you, I guess."

"And who are you to judge that anyway?" I asked, eyes narrowing.

"Your BFF. Anyway, your house is here, isn't it?"

She blinked twice, and it was her house in front of her. She felt him remove his arm from her shoulder. She turned to face him and beamed. "Yep. Was that really five minutes? It seemed shorter than that. You know, today was a fun day. We should really do this some other time."

"Yea." His response was barely audible. "I had a great time too."

She took a step forward, her fingers loosely grabbing his fingers comfortingly. She gazed up into his eyes. "I never meant to leave you behind." It came out as a whisper.

"Yea, I know."

He leaned down and she thought he was going to kiss her on the cheek as a thank you for spending the date for him. It awed her that instead, he gave her a quick peck on the lips. It ended as soon as it started, but for that mere second, she felt the tingling of his lips on hers.

Then he stepped back and shoved his hands in his pockets, grinning at her platonically as if nothing just happened. "Well," he said, "I should be heading back, I guess. I'll see you around."

"Yea."

He turned. She stood there, eyes on his back as he got smaller and smaller until his figure finally turned at the crossroad and he disappeared behind the houses. She could have sworn, though, that he flashed her a smile before he disappeared. Maybe he had, or maybe it was just a hallucination.

She dismissed all thoughts from her head as she tore her eyes away from his disappearing figure.

* * *

You have received one message.

From: Youichi Hijiri

To: Hotaru Imai

Hotaru-nee, you owe me 10 dollars ;)

_End of Grade Ten._

* * *

**The ending was totally inspired by Moses/Jai/Heartbroken Confession. She is one awesome god!**

**Reviews, anyone? Muah! This chapter's over 6k, just for you guys, although the GAFFN word count is a bit weird... It counted spaces last time I checked...**

**-IndigoGrapefruit/Aphrodite  
A.K.A. Afro Diet**


	11. Grade Eleven Part One

**Indigo's Corner  
So this chapter is actually going on 12000 going on 13000 words right now. I know. LONGLONGLONG. I might not finish the chapter today, so for this reason I am going to split it into two. I know you guys waited for a long time. Sorry. It's a really busy time of the year for me right now. Um. I'll post the second part of the chapter tomorrow and this fic will be completed somewhere over winter vacation. Oh, and I have decided that I will not have an extra chapter of "deleted scenes" posted, mainly to save me from embarrassment. I cringe every time I look back at what I had originally planned for this story.**

**Disclaimer  
Disclaimed.**

**Dedication  
To Jai, Anna and Leenoy, also known as Heartbroken Confession,** **My Hopeless Romantic,** **and Little-Miss-Giggle. You three have been such dears, excluding Jai who's just dorky.. **

**...Just kidding! You know I love messing with you, girl! You three are not _like _my family; you _are _my family. And I wish you guys well on your journey after graduating from GAFFN.**

**

* * *

**

**Grade 11 Part 1  
Family Problems**

Mikan stood before the calendar with a marker in her hand. There were now ten days before Christmas. She hummed a merry tone as she uncapped the marker and marked off another day. With all the stress and drama that came in the senior grades, she was content and relieved to know that the joyous holidays were approaching. After all, who didn't love Christmas and New Years? And her birthday was right on January first! She would be the first to be seventeen out of all of her friends! Now if only her teachers wouldn't dish out so much homework for the holidays…

She'd already made many plans for Winter Vacation. She was going to be baking cookies with Anna on the weekend, having a few get-togethers with her best friends to go Christmas shopping and the whole gang was throwing a Christmas party at Sumire's house on Wednesday the 23rd of next week because everyone had to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with families. Then they would go shopping together on Boxing Day. After that were more get-togethers and another huge party on the 29th, at Wakako's house this time. Finally, she was having a birthday party at her house on the first; all who was available could attend.

Her essays and worksheets would have to be done somewhere in between. Speaking of which, she'd better get started on her English summative…as soon as she got something to eat and finish all her Christmas cards of course!

Mikan bounced downstairs to catch her dad already poking his head in the fridge.

"Hey daddy! Anything appetizing?"

"Tomatoes."

"I asked if there was anything appetizing."

Narumi clapped his hands together and smiled. "Ahh, but tomatoes are good for you, darling."

Mikan gave no response.

Narumi took a tomato out and tossed it to her. Mikan fumbled while trying to catch it and ultimately dropped it on the ground.

"Dad," she groaned and picked up the fruit. "You know I'm not good at catching things."

Nonetheless, she washed it clean and took a bite as she hopped up the stairs to her room. Finishing off the last bite, she slid into her seat and glanced at all the Christmas cards she made for her friends. Each and every one of them was made to accommodate her friend's personalities. For Koko, she drew smiley faces and sunshine and for Hotaru, she decorated the card with a violet background and pictures of exotic foods and bills and coins.

They were all stacked in the corner of her desk. There were exactly seventeen of them.

The eighteenth was a blank card right in front of her.

She put her hands on her head and puffed out her cheeks. What could be used to describe Natsume? The only thing she could think of was a grumpy face, but that wouldn't very nice. And she wanted to make his card extra special because she knew him the longest.

After crumbling up her first three (self-deemed horrible) drafts, she decided to call Ruka for help. He was the only other person she could think of that knew Natsume like the back of his hand. Although she was slightly losing the interest in the idea after ransacking her room for her nowhere to be found cell phone. Finally she settled for her home phone.

However, as she picked up the phone and was about to dial Ruka's number, she heard her father's voice.

"Yes, Yuka. She's fine. Here, I'll get her on the phone."

She slammed the phone back down. Her heart was pounding in her ears. Her legs turned into jello and she slumped down on the ground.

"Mikan!" she heard her father call. "Phone!"

There was only one person who phoned every year before Christmas. Mikan hoped her mother wouldn't phone again this year, as she had hoped every year, but she did. However, she always managed to avoid Yuka by making up one excuse or another. When Tsubasa was still living with them, he'd helped her, but he was away at college and in the recent years, her mother timing became worse and worse.

Against her better judgment, Mikan picked up the phone again.

"Hello?" a female spoke on the other end.

She knew by instinct that her father still had his ear pressed to the other phone downstairs and was eavesdropping.

"Who are you?" she demanded with a sharp edge to her tone.

"Mikan? Oh my god! You picked up!" the woman on the other end was gasped. "I haven't heard your voice in ten years! It's Yuka! Your mother!"

Through gritted teeth, she seethed. "You must have called the wrong person. I don't have a mother. She died when I was five."

"I-"

"Goodbye."

She slammed the phone down harder than she did the first time, if possible. Unless her father was dating someone else named Yuka, she was never going to talk to this woman again. Never. Not after all she'd put them through. If Yuka didn't want them then then Mikan didn't want her now.

As they say, what goes around comes around.

Mikan sighed and found it near impossible to concentrate on drawing Natsume a Christmas card when her father was talking to unwelcome individuals – possibly about her – a floor below her.

So much for calling Ruka…

* * *

"Hey, mah sista from another mista," said Koko as he slyly draped an arm around Mikan (who was staring at her page of jot notes intensely and chewing the end of her pencil)'s shoulder while waggling his eyebrows. "What have you got there?"

He peered down right when she flipped her essay over. It was a habit of hers; the brunette always felt uneasy when someone tried to look at her work. Instead, she opted for smiling sweetly at Koko while peeling his arm off of her shoulder.

"You're such a sweetie, Koko -"

"I try."

"But I'm trying to do work here, so being a sweetie's not going to get you any points with me. Go bother your girlfriend or scheme one of your crazy pranks with Kitsuneme. Oh! Or you can go ask random people to lend you money again – money that you're never going to return, like the ten dollars that you still owe me from how many years ago was it?"

"Well honestly, I was going to wait a couple of years and see if you remember that but since you do, I'll have it by tomorrow." He flashed her his trademark grin and strolled off to bother someone else.

Mikan shook her head and sighed. Koko was _Not_, with a capital n and italics, going to give back the ten dollars he owed her tomorrow.

She flipped her page of notes now that Koko was gone and she could go back to her work. For a second the words were all blurring into lines. Mikan blinked and they turned back into words. She propped her head with her hand. It was hard enough trying to concentrate before Koko distracted her, but now that he did, she couldn't focus at all. The words were slipping through her brain every time she read them in her head and somehow her thoughts would keep drifting off to irreverent, unneeded thoughts.

Like that phone call from her mother last night.

Honestly, was she too hard on her? It was unfair, Mikan told herself, what Yuka did to her family when she left. But she knew her mother was hurt by what she did yesterday night and she couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt every time she thought about it. She kept telling herself that she didn't care at all, but that wasn't entirely true. Deep down, she did care because she knew that slamming down the phone was exactly what her mother would have done. And on the very top of the list of goals she had for life was that she didn't want to become like her mother in any way.

_Oh my god, screw this, _thought Mikan. _I can't focus at all._

She put her notes back into her binder and her binder into her backpack. Hoisting the straps of her backpack onto her shoulders, Mikan was about to leave the library but on a whim, she decided to find Koko first and see what he was up to.

She lounged about in the library, greeting some of the volunteers that were putting away books. Koko wasn't in plain sight, so she checked in between shelves and after, around the computer area.

What she saw around the computers that made her legs turn into stone. A teacher, one that was undoubtedly a supply teacher, was talking to Nonoko and pointing to places in her paper. He pointed out a few things in Nonoko's paper and sent her back to her computer. After that, he chatted with another student for a while and they both chuckled at one point. He was about six feet tall and blond and, by what she saw, somewhat easygoing.

She recognized him as her stepfather.

She and Tsubasa found pictures of him in her mother's drawer before they moved out. He had ripped them up and threw them around her mother's room. She knew there was no mistake. Even though twelve years had passed, she could have recognized his detestable face anywhere. In fact, he didn't look that different from what he did in the photos at all, but that was probably because she was looking at him from afar.

Then, another male teacher holding papers walked over from the photocopying machine. The sight of him turned Mikan's whole body into stone. He greeted the first with a very loud and cheery "Yukihara!" and the two of them immediately made conversation. Then, someone cracked a joke and the two of them laughed merrily like chums

Holy macaroni. Someone shoot her now. Her father was talking to her stepfather like they were long lost brothers.

She never felt as betrayed as she did that moment, not when she was rejected by Youichi, not when Natsume crashed her dates, not even when Ruka broke up with her or when she later found out that Natsume was a factor in the breakup. Didn't her father understand that he was socializing with the _enemy_? This was _the other party_. And just yesterday, he was talking to her mother in the same chummy tone. What the hell was wrong with him?

What was wrong with all of them?

If Yuka had not called, then she would be looking forward to spending the vacation with her friends instead of feeling guilty about hanging up on her. If Koko did not come, she wouldn't have decided to leave or to look for him. Then she wouldn't have to see her father laughing with her stepfather. If Yukihara did not substitute for a teacher at her school on that particular day then she wouldn't have to see his face and feel the distain toward him. If her father had just hated them like he was supposed to, then everything would have been much easier.

What made everything worse was that she had the same teacher Nonoko had for English the very period after, and the first bell was about to ring in about a minute.

There was a sour taste in her mouth as she exited the library at lightning speed.

The bell rang, but Mikan did not go to class. Instead, she put her backpack into her locker, took out her jacket, and ran out the nearest exit.

She was going wherever her feet took her.

* * *

Natsume and Koko headed up to the third floor to their classroom together. Natsume usually walked alone, but Koko insisted on tagging along this one instance. As they reached the classroom, however, they found it was closed with a note stuck on the door that redirected them down to the library.

"Aw man," Koko groaned. "I was just there. This is unbelievable! Why didn't he just tell us to meet at the library yesterday?"

"He did," Natsume replied as they headed down the nearest staircase. "But you were listening to your iPod so you didn't hear."

"So why didn't you head straight to the library then?"

Natsume shrugged. "I was listening to my iPod too."

They arrived at the library to find members of their class scattered everywhere. Some of them were clumped together in tight cliques and others were wondering around aimlessly. Their teacher was nowhere to be found.

"What's happening?" Natsume asked the nearest person. "Where we supposed to be?"

She scratched her nails and replied in a monotone, "no idea." Then she sauntered off to talk to her friends someplace else.

The second bell rang, signifying the starting of their class.

A tall man raised his hand and called out, "3D English class here!"

Immediately, the scattered students gathered around him like bees gathered around honey.

"Mr. Makihira is not here today so I will be substituting for him. My name is Mr. Yukihara. You can call me Yukki, Mr. Y, anything you want. Just don't call me Yuk. Who made that up anyway? Yuk… Anyway, it says here that Mr. Makihara already assigned your work from before."

A few students chuckled, Koko amongst them, but Nastume did not that very funny.

"Anyway, I believe Mr. Makihara has left you work from previous classes. He wrote down here that this is going to be your last research period. I trust you all to use your time wisely, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. I minored in English in university."

The substitute teacher took out the attendance and started to call out names. He called Natsume's name wrong, but he just grunted.

More than halfway through the list, he called, "Mikan?"

No one answered.

Natsume looked around but he did not see the girl anywhere.

"Mikan Sakura? No?"

Natsume looked at the substitute and caught something in his eyes. For a second, he had a deep feeling in his eyes, one of understanding. Natsume narrowed his own eyes at the teacher. Did he know Mikan from somewhere? But that flicker of emotion disappeared as he looked down to mark Mikan absent and continued to call more names.

That was when Koko leaned over and commented, "that's weird. I just saw Mikan in the library ten minutes ago. You reckon she'd skip?"

Natsume knew Mikan wouldn't skip. She'd told him herself. As lenient as Narumi was, he didn't approve of skipping. He had grounded Tsubasa mercilessly for skipping during his high school days. If she skipped class, there was no way that she could have covered for it. Her father was a teacher in that school and he would eventually find out one way or another. Also, this was the last week before winter holidays. He knew how eager she was to spend the holidays with her friends, so it was very unlikely that she would do anything to jeopardize her vacation.

"Did she look sick or anything?" he asked.

"Nah. She was just fine. Weird. You'd expect Mikan to keep a clean record, being the good scholar she is. I guess the rebelliousness in her finally shows." He grinned.

Koko was wrong. There was no way it could be because of rebelliousness. The reason must have run deeper than that. And Natsume had no doubt that it was somehow connected to their substitute teacher.

* * *

Mikan went back to get her things and dumped them at home. She went up to her room and made a few more attempts at making Natsume a card, all of them in vain. After a quick, two-second contemplation, she decided that didn't want to be at home when her dad came from work, so she set off for Hotaru's house as soon as school was out.

She felt like a hobo when she sat on Hotaru's doorstep, twiddling her fingers, waiting for her to arrive. The brisk winter air was turning her cheeks pink and she played with the white clouds her breath made. There was, however, no snow, only the dry, hard ground.

When Hotaru finally did arrive, she did not look surprised at her best friend that was sitting on her doorstep, looking up at her like a lost puppy. She simply asked, "what are you doing here?" Then, without waiting for an answer, she stepped over Mikan and opened the door to her house.

"It's a long story…" Mikan sighed.

"I'm sure it is." Hotaru dumped her stuff on the floor and set her homework on the table. After setting down to do her work, she absentmindedly commented, "if there's anything I can do for you, you can notify me."

Mikan nodded and took a seat beside her best friend. She watched as Hotaru did question after question of math equations. The brunette shifted uncomfortably in her seat a few times, but Hotaru paid no mind. Her attention was solely focused on her work.

After ten minutes, she caved in. "Hotaru I need someone to rant to. I have this huge problem on my hand and –"

Hotaru had already closed her textbook and binder and set them aside. She was now facing Mikan and listening with interest. And was that the ghost of a grin on her lips? Mikan raised her eyebrow; she had a very cunning best friend indeed.

"My mom called yesterday and, well, I answered. It was actually the first time I've talked to her in years. She calls once every year around Christmas. I never really understood anything when I was small. All I know is that one day my dad came to my room and told me to start packing because we're going to move. I never knew why Tsubasa hated her with such vehemence. I thought he was just irrational and had a lot of anger bottled in him, but then I heard him arguing with my father one night and I was just stunned by what he said. That Christmas, when I got on the phone with her, I couldn't say anything. Her voice made me nauseous and I excused myself. And after that Christmas I never talked to her again. But yesterday I picked up the phone and I told her she was no longer my mother.

"Today I went to school and I saw my father talking to my stepfather, who was apparently substituting for Mr. Makihira. They laughed like old chums and it just infuriated me so much. I couldn't face him. I couldn't go to that class. I couldn't even think at all. I just want this to stop. I don't want anything to do with my mother anymore. I don't want to go home because I don't want to know what my father was doing with him and if I do go home I know the first thing I'll do is ask him straight out. Please, please, please let me stay for the night Hotaru!" She grabbed Hotaru's arm. "I beg you!"

Hotaru patted her best friend's back to calm her down. "I'll see what my parents say. However, you do know that you will eventually have to go home right? Unless you're going to run away which I trust you to tell me first before you do."

"I don't know, Hotaru. I don't know. Actually I do know. I'll buy a ticket to go downtown and live with my brother and his friends."

"You also know that running away from your problems won't help to solve them at all?"

"Hotaru, you're not supposed to make everything difficult!"

The raven haired lass's lips curled up just the slightest. "I'm just doing my job."

"Yeah. Thanks. A lot," deadpanned Mikan. "Oh! I need to ask you something. I wanted to ask Ruka yesterday, but y'know… So I was making cards for all my friends and I tried to make a theme for each of them. But then the thing is I can't think of anything at all for Natsume. Nothing! And I was just thinking that I've known him for years yet when I think about it I don't really know much about him at all. What do you suggest I should theme his card?"

Hotaru raised a sardonic brow. "Mikan, you do realize you're asking _me,_ right?"

"That's why I'm asking you! You have really good opinions and you're always fair… or try to be, but that's not the point! You give really good advice because you always think from everyone's point of view! And besides, this card thing was sort of going to be a secret and the more people I tell about it the less if a secret it'll be!"

The girl she was talking to shrugged and went back to doing her homework. "Well I have nothing. I hardly even talk to him. If you don't know him as well as you thought you did, then I know him even less. Sorry but I can't help you on this one. Besides, if you want to make a card for him, then it makes more sense that it's your own idea."

"Okay then." Mikan figured that she might as well try to since she had no homework due on the last day of school and a night to kill at Hotaru's house. "You have any blank paper?"

"By the printer."

She got a whole stack of paper and seated herself down beside Hotaru. She grabbed her pencil and her iPod for inspiration. Putting the pencil to paper, she started by drawing his name. She tried lots of different fonts for them, but none of them really seemed like _Natsume_.

His favourite colour was red so she already knew that the card was going to be red. She just didn't know what to put on it really.

What was the first thing she thought of when she thought of Natsume? She believed his sharpest features were his eyes. His eyes showed everything. With his glance, he could either freeze a thousand oceans or he could melt you into a huge pile of goo. They were so _alive_. She loved looking into his eyes, but drawing an eye on a Christmas card was just random and weird. She'd ditched that idea yesterday.

But when they lit up… Oh, when they lit up! When his eyes lit up, everything disappeared and she became speechless. His eyes weren't just brighter. When they really lit up, it was like a spark ignited in them. A tiny flame. Except that tiny flame was enough to warm her up on the coldest winter day.

Fire.

She grinned to herself. That sounded just about right.

Mikan put her pencil on the fresh piece of paper and let her hands work their magic.

At half past five, Hotaru's mother came home. She greeted Mikan politely with a nod and asked the girls if they a snack to eat. Hotaru nodded but Mikan rejected the offer politely. She wanted to finish her cards as fast as possible and she had only started on the inside.

"Mom, can Mikan stay here for the night?"

Ms. Imai turned her head from the kitchen. "We have dinner with the Matsudairas tonight."

"Oh."

Hotaru and Mikan exchanged looks.

"Sorry," said Hotaru.

Mikan felt like crying. "Oh, no. It's really okay. I've bothered you guys enough already."

"No, no, no!" exclaimed Hotaru's mother. "I'm sorry we already made plans. Hotaru didn't tell me she was going to have a friend over today." She shot Hotaru a look. "If she had told me earlier, I would have cleared our schedule. How about you girls have a sleepover tomorrow or sometime over winter break instead, Mikan?"

"T-that's fine." Mikan's smile was forced.

Hotaru looked to Mikan with a concerned expression.

"Well, it's getting dark pretty early these days. How about I give you a drive home Mikan? I don't want to bother your father. He probably has enough on his mind already."

Yeah. Enough to think _and _talk about with the _other party_.

"That'd be great. Thanks. Ms. Imai."

"You're welcome." Ms. Imai beamed. She probably thought she was doing them a great favour.

Mikan gathered her things. She put on her coat and slung her backpack over her shoulders. She put on her shoes as Ms. Imai opened the door and Hotaru stepped up beside them.

"Don't forget this." She held up Mikan's half finished card.

Mikan smiled and took it, then embraced her best friend in an actual arm-around hug. It was one of the very few instances where Hotaru wasn't fighting her off. Her heart pounded and she hyperventilated in fear of leaving her friend and having to deal with her father alone.

Hotaru whispered in her ear. "Promise me you won't do anything irrational?"

They broke apart and Mikan stepped outside into the cold of December. She gave a little wave. "Yeah. Bye Hotaru."

Hotaru waved back from inside the house.

As soon as they got into the car, Ms. Imai started driving towards Mikan's house. She asked a few questions about Mikan's studies, all of which she answered politely. It was very cold in the car before the warm air circulated. Mikan's fingertips were numb and her cheeks stung. She put Natsume's Christmas card to her chest, but it didn't give off the same effect that he did. Still, she felt more at ease.

The car stopped just outside of Mikan's driveway. She thanked Ms. Imai and got out of her car. For a moment, she considered running away once Hotaru's mother left, but decided against it and went into her house instead.

She hung up her coat and set her backpack on the floor.

There were noises coming from the kitchen. Her father was making dinner. She decided she wasn't going to do anything irrational as long as she doesn't see his face, or if she did, he doesn't bring up the topic. Since she knew her father was in the kitchen, she went up to her room to finish off Natsume's Christmas card. She locked the door and hoped that she wouldn't have to talk to her father for the day.

However, her father came up fifteen minutes later and knocked on her door. "Mikan?"

She didn't answer.

Narumi knocked again. She knew he knew that she was in the room because the light was open but she still didn't answer.

"Mikan?" His voice grew louder.

Mikan covered herself with a blanket and clenched her fists tightly. Under the blanket, her whole body was shaking uncontrollably. She bit her lip and tried to keep her body still but to no avail. When she was sure her father's knocks and calls stopped, she got out from under the blanket.

However, not a minute later, Narumi unlocked the key to her door.

Mikan's head snapped up.

"So you skipped two periods today. You do realize that you're a junior right? Your grades are going to be reflected on by universities."

Mikan glared at him icily.

Narumi stepped forward. "Mikan-"

She threw her arms up. "Don't Mikan me! So I did skip? What are you going to do about it? What were _you_ doing when I skipped? You know what you are dad? You're a traitor! I can't believe you went and talked, no _laughed _with… with _him._ Mom I can understand. She calls you once every year and I can deal with that but mom's husband? What the hell were you doing with him? What the hell was he even doing in my school?"

"Mikan, you don't know Izumi."

"So what if I don't know him? It's not a matter of _knowing _him. You're not supposed to get involved with the other party in the first place! We all know that when mom left, she didn't want us! She didn't want any of us! She never gave us a chance so why should we make any exceptions for her!? Why do you want to be part of her life, dad? What's wrong with ours?"

"Mikan, you're overreacting."

"I'm not!" she shrieked. "Okay, fine! I am. So what? Maybe you should have stopped trying to get me on the phone to talk to mom! Maybe you should have been socializing with my stepfather! But you did, didn't you? That's the thing. You did."

"You need to calm down."

"And you need to stop talking to mom's family because you know what? You left. You single-handedly raised Tsubasa and I. You put a roof over our heads and food in our mouths. What did she do? She got the party life. She got money. She got her stupid brand names. She got wasted. She sold the house, married a millionaire, and never got to know her what her blood and flesh children became. Now ain't that a shame?"

"Mikan, you know what? Just get out. Get out and calm yourself down."

For a moment, Mikan stood deadly still, staring at her father defiantly. "You know what? Fine, I will 'get out'. I'll pack my bags this instant and go live with my brother. And you know what? When I finish high school, I don't want your money. I'll get something called a job and I'll pay off my brother. And dad, you can just fade into the past like mom did. Now get out of my room so I can pack."

She got her bag from her closet and began shoving her stuff into it. She started putting in the Christmas cards, all her pictures of her friends, her jewelry and every possession that could possibly fit and was valuable to her until Narumi grabbed the bag right out of her hands.

"You're not going anywhere, Mikan. You and I are going to stay right here and in this room and talk this out. And while we're at it, you need to get some ice to cool off your head."

"My head is fine. On the other hand, I'm not so sure about yours."

"Mikan."

"Dad, I'm going to cut this short. Unless you're going to promise me never to interact mom or Yukihara again, we don't have a deal. Do we have that clear?"

"Okay. I'll stop. I'll stop talking to Izumi, but Yuka will still phone every year. She's your mom. You can't just cut her out of your life completely. Just don't run away and don't do anything stupid. You're sixteen. You – this is ridiculous. What are you going to do when you go live with your brother? After you graduate high school? What job can a high school graduate get? You're going to starve and be homeless. You're going to die."

"Then I'd rather die."

"Mikan," Narumi reasoned. "I already said that I'm not going to talk to him any longer. Please just stop packing and go get a glass of water. Throw something. Just cool off all that unnecessary energy you possess right now."

"Fine." She dropped her bag and walked left her room. "Fine…"

* * *

She must have jumped a feet when she was randomly poked while holding the brown sugar. The package of sugar was dropped and left forgotten on the floor. She swiveled and glared at the inconsiderate person just to come eye to eye with Natsume.

He shrugged. "Sup?"

"Well, fancy meeting you here at No Frills. I didn't think you were the grocery store kind of guy but obviously I was wrong. And really, don't you have a better way of approaching people than randomly jabbing them in the back out of nowhere? It's not good for the heart." She picked up the bag that she dropped. "Or the sugar."

But Natsume, being Natsume, didn't answer a single question and instead demanded, "where were you yesterday and what's with the skipping?"

"I was at home, sulking." She said that as if it was the most normal thing to say in the world. "It's not like we're doing anything on the last day of school before winter break anyways so what's the point?"

"The point is that you don't skip. Koko skips, Mochu skips, I skip, but you don't."

She crossed her arms. "Well maybe you don't know me as well as you thought you did."

He raised an eyebrow and grinned, amused. "I don't know you? That has got to be the biggest joke you ever made."

She rolled her eyes and set her brown sugar down in her basket full of other baking supplies. "Oh I know you think you're very funny Natsume. Keep telling yourself that and stop being nosy. Now what are you doing someplace I know you'd never be in in a million years?"

"No much really. I was actually getting a bouquet from that boutique shop next door but then I saw you come in here and came to see what you were up to."

"So basically you're stalking me."

"No, I'm being the good best friend that I am and coming up to say hi, just more stealthily."

She went in line and placed all her stuff on the conveyer belt. "Yeah right. Who are the flowers for?"

"Mother. Today's the day she died."

"That'll be twenty five sixty four."

Mikan got out a twenty and a ten and handed them to the cashier.

"I'm taking them to her grave," continued Natsume. "You want to come?"

"Plastic bag?"

"Yes please. Oh Natsume, I really can't. It's your mom. I didn't even know her." She took the bag from the cashier and walked out of the store with Natsume.

"Oh but your parents did."

She stopped dead in her tracks and looked him right in the face. "What?"

"Pictures in her diary. Your mom and dad were both in the photos, especially your mom. Every photo had your mom in it."

She shook her head. "No. They never mentioned anything about any friend of theirs. You don't even know how my mom looks like. Are you sure it's my dad in the pictures? You could have easily mistaken someone who looked like him. I mean, they say there's like five people in the world that look exactly alike, don't they? Maybe it's something like that."

"Their names were in her diary entries - Yuka Sakura, Narumi Sakura, even Mikan Sakura. She had the names right up to when you were born."

"You're kidding."

"No I'm not. My mom really did know your parents. There was even a picture of her holding you as a baby. And apparently you're part of the reason I was born."

"_What?!_"

"Yea I was hella pissed when I read that. The three of them talked it out and they wanted a playmate for you so you didn't have to grow up alone."

"_Oh my god._"

Natsume furrowed his eyebrows. "What is that look on your face?"

Mikan had to open and close her mouth multiple times before she could make a coherent sound. "W-well you can't just tell me all this out of the blue! How come I never knew anything about it? I don't know anything that's going on around here! What is this deal with all the parents and ugh! Dammit! Damn it all! Gosh their generation is already over, isn't it? I don't know why we're dwelling on the past when this is our generation."

She made a frustrated sound.

Natsume stared straight ahead. "It's really alright, you know. You don't have to come with me if you don't want to."

"No, I didn't say that!" Mikan quickly cried. "I'll come with you. I just want to put back my groceries before I do. They're a bit heavy. Heh."

"Oh, you want me to carry them for you?"

"No!" she exclaimed quickly. "No. It's okay. It's totally okay. I've got them."

"Well if you say so…" He playfully extended his arm slowly towards her, but she slapped it away with a glare.

"Bad boy."

He raised his hands in mock surrender.

As they walked on, Mikan felt the weight of the grocery dragging her arm down more and more. She bit her lip and tried to adjust her hold on the bag discreetly but ended up making rustling noises. To her right, Natsume reached again for it, but she switched the bag to her left hand. That caused him to reach over from the back with his arm. Mikan edged away to escape, but Natsume grabbed her arm and pulled her back, reaching for the bag with his other hand from the front, which resulted in an awkward hug.

"Rape! RAPEEE!"

A mother on the other side of the street that was pushing a baby carriage stopped and shot them a dirty look before pushing it onwards. Natsume and Mikan exchanged looks, then simultaneously exploded into hysterical laughter.

He pried the bag from her fingers and took it. "And that, you dork, is how it's done."

"Oh my god, did you see the look on her face?"

"That's what you get from screaming 'rape!! Rape!!!' What is wrong with you?" He mocked her.

"Shut up and walk, Natsume."

"Will do gladly."

They approached her house. Her father's car was in the driveway. She saw him watching TV through the window. Opening the door, Mikan dropped the groceries right on the spot instead of inside the kitchen because she still felt tense about that situation from a few days earlier. She then slammed the door shut loud enough to seem angry and walked back to join Natsume in the driveway.

"That was fast."

"Yeah, no. Don't really want to talk about it. Things happen. It's a long story."

"And we have all the time in the world. How convenient is that?"

She stopped and faced him, sticking her hands into her pockets and tilting her head to one side. "You really don't want to hear about what goes on in my family, Natsume. You _met _my family."

"And you met mine, so I don't see what's the big deal here."

"I – no I haven't actually. I barely know Aoi and I've never actually talked one-on-one with your dad."

"My dad. I don't know. He's a very temperamental person. Depressed. He was involved a lot, notoriously, when he was young. Well, both of my parents were, but dad was more of the real dangerous bad and mom was just a prankster. And well he has better control over his anger. He never hit anyone before and he's really considerate of us. I have never remembered him doing anything with us that showed that he cares about us but he always tries to give us the least impact of his anger. Once, when he was angry at Aoi for accidentally tripping and pulling out the cable, he yelled at her for half an hour and grabbed a vase and threw it across the room. Then she sent her up to her room and told her not to show her face to him again for the rest of the day. She came to me and cried herself out and she was scared shitless, but he never once laid so much as a finger on her."

"Natsume, why didn't you tell someone about it?"

"I don't want anyone to get involved. Aoi and I, we're happy here. And dad? He's providing us food and shelter. We're dependent on him. What can we do, Mikan? What can we do? Our life isn't the best, but it can be much worse. We could have an alcoholic for a father. We could have been harassed. But we're not."

Hearing Natsume say that made Mikan feel very very lousy. She knew that they were different cases altogether, but he seemed to have it a lot worse than her. It seemed rather hard to believe at the moment that she'd been threatening her father to run away when Natsume, in fact, is so dependent on his that even if he wanted to escape, he couldn't. She felt childish compared to the person next to her.

She looked up at his face and she was surprised to see him looking back down at her. She was suddenly aware of tiny little things like how his arm was bumping against hers rhythmically as they walked.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?"

"A lot of things."

"A lot of things like?"

Well, Natsume was certainly no Koko.

"I dunno. Things. Natsume, I'm terribly spoilt, aren't I?"

He sighed heavily. "You? Well honestly you the most spoilt person I've ever known." Then a small laugh escaped his hands. "But you're the only person I've ever known to this level apart from maybe Ruka. And Ruka… well I can't judge him. It's different."

Coming from Natsume, it really stung. Mikan bit her lip and focused her intense gaze on the pavement they were walking on. She knew it was coming. She'd warned herself, but still…

Natsume noticed her tenseness and tried to lighten the atmosphere. "It feels so weird talking about this topic when we're visiting my mother."

Mikan's head snapped up at once. "What kind of person was your mother?"

"Well, I don't really remember. Everything I know about her is based on the stories I hear. I know she was a great person – a great mom. It's just… well it's hard because she was gone when I was so young. Am I sad about her death? I become sad all the time when I think of everything she missed. It makes me sad every year I go back and say, 'hey mom, it's me. Look at me. Look at how much I've grown. And to think that I came out of your stomach.' And I know that she can't hear me because she's dead. Gone. But I'm not sad at the same time because I don't know her. All I have right now is an idea of her. Pictures. Stories. There's evidence that she was there, but she's gone from my memory. Every year I go back I'm conflicted with thoughts. Was she really there? Did she really make an impact on me?"

"Hey. It's fine. If she could see you right now, she'd be proud, Natsume. She would be proud of such a gorgeous son. I mean, I'd be proud if you were my son… Okay that came out wrong, but I would. You're an amazing person, even if you don't think so yourself. And even though you can't remember her, I'm sure your mom loved you. She would have chosen to stay with you if she could. She would have stayed in your life, if she hadn't died."

_Unlike my mom, who didn't want us in her life because we weren't good enough for her. Unlike my mom who chose not to be present in my life. Unlike my mom who told me that she loved me so many times but didn't want to keep me in the end. _

"Mikan. Mikan, you're crying."

She knew that. Her vision was blurry and her tears left wet streaks down her face. Natsume had both his hands on her shoulders while she was wiping her tears with her hands. His face showed that he didn't know what to do and his eyes were soft.

"I guess I am," she half sobbed. "I guess I am. I wasn't going to cry about this. I haven't cried in years. It would have been fine if I grew up and never got to know my mother, but it's not. It's not fine, Natsume, but I just can't. I can't."

"Do you want to talk about this somewhere else?"

He steered them into a small road, away from all the cars and people.

She wiped the last of her tears away. "No. It's okay. We should really get going before those flowers wither away. That'd be such a pity, wouldn't it?" She grinned at him.

"But you'll tell me one day."

"I will."

They strolled along at a slower pace than before. Out of the blue, Natsume squeezed her arm.

She turned and raised her eyebrows.

"Your eyes are red from crying. I'd take your hand, but we're not dating. So yeah." He reached out and gave her a reassuring squeeze on the arm again.

"Funny how I should be comforting you today, but it's actually the opposite."

"Not really. Ruka once told me that the nicest people were the ones who hurt the most."

They made another turn and she saw the graveyard where Natsume's mother was. There were still patches of snow on the floor. Sticking out of the ground were stones of all shapes and sizes and a different name carved on each stone. The graveyard was barren except for two people who she couldn't see clearly the faces of.

Suddenly, Natsume jerked her arm and pulled her behind the trees and shrubs. Mikan looked at him, alarmed, but Natsume held one hand to his lips. Together they scooted along until they were in sight of the two people. Mikan was in clear view of the man's face, which had somewhat of a resemblance to Natsume's, but couldn't see the woman's face completely.

"That's my dad. What's he doing bringing a woman to my mother's grave?" hissed Natsume.

Mikan looked down and saw his fists clenched.

The man then moved and the woman turned slightly but enough for Mikan to recognize her. She sported a shorter hairstyle now, but had the same brown eyes and creamy complexion. It was the same babyfaced woman she'd seen in photos, except the woman was real and she had aging symptoms. Mikan's eyes grew as wide as saucers, her heart started speeding up, and she got a sick feeling to her gut.

"That's mother," she said in a whisper. "What's she doing here? What's she doing in this town? Natsume, we can't go out there. I can't face her. We have to go and come back later."

"We won't go out. We'll stay 'til they're gone. I want to hear what they're saying."

"I-"

"Shh."

Yuka tried to approach Natsume's father, her arms held out with palms faced up. "If you would just–"

"I don't know who you are. I don't know what relation you have to my wife and honestly that's none of my concern, but don't you go asking how my kids are, if you can see them. Don't you involve yourself with my family, got it? Natsume and Aoi are none of your concern."

"If Kaoru did die, then at least tell me her kids are safe. At least give me that much."

"What are you going to do for them? Are you going to support them? Pay for them? We don't need your involvement and we don't need your pity. Natsume and Aoi are fine and have been fine before you came along. Kaoru has been dead for ten years and we've done perfectly fine after her death. We didn't take any pity from any of her friends and we're certainly not going to take pity from you."

"I just wanted to see them. That's all. I'm Yuka Azumi, as written in her letters. Kaoru was a good friend of mine. We've been through a lot together. We wanted to be there to see our children grow up together, but things happened. My own daughter refuses to see me. If you could just at least let me see her children and what came of them."

"Yuka Azumi, huh? Well I remember that day eleven years ago very clearly. All of Kaoru's friends and acquaintances were invited to her funeral, but Yuka Azumi never showed up. What can you say for that?"

"I couldn't – I didn't know what to do. It was so unreal, getting that letter. I just couldn't bring myself to-"

From beside Mikan, Natsume sprang out of the cover of the trees and bushes, surprising both his dad and Mikan's mom.

"Natsume?" exclaimed Yuka.

"What are you doing here?" growled his father.

Ignoring his father, he turned to Yuka and accused, "so you're saying that you guys have known each other for over a decade, been friends since you were teens, and you couldn't even bother to attend my mother's funeral? I saw the pictures. I read the diaries. You were her best friend. How could you?"

"I-"

"Maybe you should stop making excuses for yourself. Maybe you just decided not to be there."

Mikan groaned before she parted the bushes and came out after Natsume. To say Yuka was shocked of her entrance would be an understatement. She took her place adjacent to Natsume and eyed her mother callously.

"That's what you get, mom. That's what you get. I guess you're just going to have to accept that. Didn't I tell you? If you didn't want us, then we don't want you. Being here now doesn't make up for all the time you've missed, all the hurt you've brought. And you know what? Maybe it's better off this way. You can state a million reasons why, but in the end it always comes back to one thing, doesn't it? _You weren't there_. And that's all that matters.

"What does flesh and blood matter if you have a house to live in? What do former friends matter if you have new places to go and new groupies to parade around in? You decide to put your brand names first and your son and daughter second, and this'll be what you get. Years later you'll discover that you're aging and no longer in your prime and you want to go back to the life you left behind. Time's not going to wait for you, Yuka. We've moved on without you. Maybe it's time you do the same. I really didn't want to grow up and get to know my mom as this person that should have been there, but wasn't."

"Mikan, I-"

"I don't want your excuses."

"I know, Mikan. I've put you through enough and I'm sorry. I really am."

"Whatever. Goodbye mom."

Natsume laid down the flowers in front of Kaoru's grave and escorted Mikan out of the graveyard.

Once they were out of hearing distance, Mikan put her hands to her head and exclaimed, "oh my god. That was so relieving."

"Your parents are divorced."

"Yeah, and I'm glad they are. My father could do so much better, but he stopped dating the divorce to take care of us."

"Well would you believe me if I said I feel bad for everything I said about him being a transvestite?"

"No, but I can't really blame you. He is rather girly in the fashion department. Looks too, now that you mention it. I'm guessing that's not much of a good first impression on your dad, huh?"

He shrugged.

She sighed. "It's the holidays. I was supposed to have a blast. Every day just feels like shit now."

"It'll pass eventually, trust me."

"How's Aoi by the way?"

"Perfectly fine and deprived of any drama."

"That's Natsume's sister for you."

"Yup. That's my sis."

_To be continued in part two..._

* * *

**The second part will be posted tomorrow.**

**I didn't edit (laziness and lack of time), so sorry if I made any stupid errors anywhere.**

**Review?**

**Lovelove,  
-Janet**


	12. Grade Eleven Part Two

**Indigo's Corner  
Part two is out! I literally cried when I wrote this. Got too into the emotion. :P**

**Thanks to you-know-who for you-know-what and never again!**

**Disclaimer  
Disclaimed.**

**Dedication  
A big whooping dedication goes again to My Hopeless Romantic, world's biggest lover of fries; Heartbroken Confession, the dorkkk; and Little-Miss-Giggle, my sunshine. :)**

* * *

**Grade 11 part 2  
Family Problems**

Today was one of those perfect days. Mikan woke up to see snow gently falling outside her window. She glanced out the window to see a world of white. The house across decorated their trees with lights and turned them on so they twinkled in the snow. It was the perfect look of Christmas. She bounced out of bed with a newfound energy. Her hair had the perfect amount of volume and her clothes had not so much as one wrinkle on them. If she were still ten, she would have twirled around and around, pretending to be a snow princess in the middle of a white field. Instead, now that she was seventeen, she put on make up, a cardigan and a pair of jeans and bounced downstairs, for today was the day that her brother and his fiancée were coming over for dinner!

"It's a white Christmas," Narumi commented as Mikan slid into her chair for breakfast.

She used her fork to cut off a piece of her devilled egg and stuffed it into her mouth. "Mmm."

"The weather network reports that there's going to be a storm later on though." Ever since an incident in grade two where Mikan's father told her that the weather reports were nonsense, only to end up spending hours trying to find her in a storm, he'd always been keeping tabs on the weather network.

"When are Tsubasa and Misaki going to get here?"

"Hopefully before the storm."

"He should have come back sooner, but noo, he was out with all his university friends. Life is so unfair, I swear. I have so much to tell him and I haven't seen Misaki in years. And Anna and Nonoko and Yuu are like dying to meet my brother!"

"Mikan, I know you miss Tsubasa, but you still need to finish your breakfast and we still need to clean the house before he gets here."

She wolfed down her eggs and bacon and gulped down her juice and sped up to her room once again. She'd given all her cards out except for the ones she made for her brother and his friends. She placed those cards on the table and proceeded to clean her room.

For the remainder of the morning, Mikan and her father swept, mopped and vacuumed every single room. They cleaned the dust off of the surfaces of tables and spread the blankets over the beds. It was like spring-cleaning except in late December. While Mikan was cleaning all of the windows, Narumi shoveled the driveway while the snow was still coming down light so that it'd be easier once the storm was over.

As she was washing her hands, Mikan felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She took it out and opened a text message from Natsume.

_Sender: Natsume Hyuuga  
__Time: 3:04pm  
__Bored as hell. Sup with you?_

She dried her hands and typed, _My brother and his fiancée are coming over later. _, then pressed send.

A moment later, she received another message from him.

_Sender: Natsume Hyuuga  
__Time: 3:07pm  
__Wow. He actually got a fiancée. That's hard to believe. Well good luck with that. I'm at the mall with Aoi and her friends. Dad made me tag along because he didn't trust them. Wtf am I supposed to do here anyway? -_-_

She laughed as she read it, then texted back, _Awww. Nattie's shopping! This is epic. I'm going to tell everyone ASAP. =PPP_

_Sender: Natsume Hyuuga  
__Time: 3:10pm  
__If you do that I'm going to tell everyone how you used to wear polka dotted panties. 'nyway, I gtg. Aoi's making me drive her who-knows-where. Dad told her she needed to finish her business before it gets dark. I'm not a taxi driver, goddammit._

_Marry Christmas, Nat! _she replied and put her phone back into her pocket.

After four fourty five, the sky darkened, but Tsubasa still didn't arrive yet. Mikan sat in the living room, watching TV anxiously, but also glancing over at the door every few minutes. The winds became harsher and the snow started to fly crazily in every direction.

"Dad," she called, "they're still not here."

"Traffic!" her dad yelled from upstairs.

She sighed and puffed out her cheeks. Suddenly becoming bored of the show, Mikan grabbed the remote and started channel surfing.

At approximately half past five, a doorbell rang. Mikan sprang off of the shelf and ran to the door so fast that she slammed her shoulder into it. Clenching her shoulder, she unlocked the door and opened it, coming face to face with two familiar people.

"You made it! I was starting to think you'd never come!"

They stumbled in in their huge, puffy winter jackets. After taking them off, Misaki wrapped her arms around Mikan in a huge hug.

"We did make it!" she exclaimed. "It was damn cold outside too!"

"Accident on the highway," grumbled Tsubasa, who had his own turn in huggin his little sister once his fiancée was done. "Held ups up for hours. I almost couldn't feel my feet."

Mikan beamed. "But you're here now and it's Christmas the day after tomorrow and we're going to have a blast the next few days!"

"Tsubasa! Misaki! You two made it safely!" Narumi joined them. "See, I told you, Mikan. There was nothing to worry about. Your sister has been asking me when you were going to get here since breakfast."

"Dad!"

Tsubasa laughed and ruffled his sister's hair. "Miss me?"

"Don't ruin my hair, Tsubasa!"

"Oh, I forgot. You're almost seventeen soon. You're not that kid anymore. Well whatever! As long as you're not legal, you'll still be a kid to me."

"Misaki, he's sabotaging me!"

Misaki mocked a pose with her hands on her hips and a stern look. "Tsubasa, no sabotaging little sisters."

Tsubasa laughed. "Just like the old days when you two always double team on me. Should I be scared that my sister and future wife are in cahoots?"

Mikan noticed that Misaki's eyes brightened when he said the words "future wife".

"You should be very scared, my brother."

"We'll see, Mikan. We'll see." He turned to Narumi. "So Yuka and Izumi aren't here yet?"

"Oh, um – " Narumi started, but Mikan turned around and interrupted him.

"What? Why would they be here?" She had a look of disbelief as she swiveled her head back and forth between her father and brother.

Narumi crossed his arms and shook his head at Tsubasa.

Either not getting or ignoring Narumi's sign, Tsubasa commented, "you said they're coming to join us for dinner tonight, aren't they?"

Mikan's head snapped to her father. "You WHAT?"

"Mikan –"

She threw up her arms. "I thought we went through this. I thought you weren't going to have anything to do with them anymore."

"We decided this before that, over the phone, Mikan."

"Yet another thing he kept from me."

"Mikan," Tsubasa chimed in, "it's okay. One dinner with her is not going to kill you. Just don't talk to her. Pretend she's not there. It'll be over before you know it."

"I can't believe you're siding with dad!"

Narumi sighed. "Mikan, stop being unreasonable."

She gaped at him. "What? I'm being unreasonable? I'm being unreasonable? You know what? Screw this. I'm not having dinner with you. I'm going to stay up in my room until they are gone and nothing and no one is getting me out."

She stormed up to her room and got on her phone out, then frantically typed a message to Natsume: _SOS. My mother's coming for dinner. What should I do? What should I do Natsume? Tell me!_

Then she took off her skinny jeans and put on some tight pants, then put another pair of spacier jeans on top. She put a thick sweater over her cardican and three pairs of socks. What she was going to do was crazy for a rebellious act, and Mikan knew she wasn't thinking straight at the moment, but there was no way – no way in hell that she was going to sit at that table and have dinner with her mother and stepfather.

She grabbed her phone again. There was no message from Nastume. She bit her lip and sent him another message: _Natsume? Are you there?_ Then she put her phone into her pocket.

Mikan opened the door to her bedroom and tiptoed downstairs quietly. Tsubasa, Misaki, and her father's voice all came from the dining room. She slipped into the doorway and out of view from the dining room and grabbed her boots. She put them on as noiselessly as she could. Now came the tricky part. She had to wait until the conversation got real loud so they wouldn't hear the lock click.

After five minutes, someone told a joke and Misaki suddenly burst into loud, hysterical laughter. Mikan managed to switch the lock without anyone hearing. She was about to open the door when her phone started vibrating in her pocket. She swore and took it out.

Natsume had finally texted back.

_Sender: Natsume Hyuuga  
__Time: 6:19 pm  
__Hey, you okay?_

She peeked over the edge and saw her family chatting while eating a fruit salad. Mikan sighed and shut her eyes before heading back to the door. She turned the doorknob and waited for another opportune moment, which came soon enough, as someone walked over to the kitchen and turned on the tap. She opened the door, slipped outside, closed it and ran as fast as she could.

She took out her phone as she ran and pressed the buttons with cold, numb fingers. _I'm not okay._

Once she was out of view of her house, she slowed down. The wind and snow and cold wore her body down and she found herself trudging through the snow. She didn't fear for kidnap for she knew no one would be out on a night like this. Once, a car's headlights startled her and she hid her face by looking away even though no one could see her face clearly through a storm like that. The car zoomed past her without even slowing down the slightest, and she trudged on.

Mikan was determined to make it through the night alive. To do this, she knew she had to find some shelter. There was no way she was going to survive the next fifteen or so hours out there in the cold, being battered by the snow. She wasn't sure if anyone could survive that. She thought of all the places she could go for shelter. The park would have worked for the summer but it was too in the open as of the moment. The base of a tree wasn't ideal, and it didn't shield much as its trunk was bare and the snow came from every direction, but tress could be a last resort. She closed her eyes and thought of places where she could at least be safe from the wind if not the snow, but the cold stung and her brain was too focused on the pain to think of anything else.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She ignored it. She couldn't take it out now when she was freezing cold.

_Natsume… _Mikan managed to think. _Where would Natsume go? Wait… I did go somewhere with him… Rain… Playground… That tube! The red tube!_

She beamed now that she knew she would have someplace to stay for the night, but even so much as moving her face would hurt, she massaged her face with her hands for a bit and stuck them back into her pockets.

Mikan switched directions toward the playground. She trudged through the snow for at least fifteen minutes. Her body was warm from burning off energy but she the cold was stinging her face and hands. It gave her an exhausted feeling, like she could just collapse on the spot. Panting, she stumbled through the playground to where the tube was located.

With difficulty, she squeezed herself into the tube. It had been much easier when she was in grade two. Mikan had to fold her knees and bend her neck, but she managed to do it anyway. She extended her arms around her legs and buried her head into her knees, getting the little warmth that she could. Even curled up into her protective ball, she could still feel the sting of the winter wind that blew through the holes of the tube.

Curled up in a ball, the girl lost track of the time she'd spent inside the tube. All she knew was that her whole body was becoming numb from a combination of staying in the uncomfortable position and the cold. It was hard to move even one limb. If she shifted even a little, the cold would bite at her. She constantly warmed her hands with her breath but her feet felt like they were frozen solid.

Her phone buzzed again, and she took it out to check the two messages she had gotten.

_Sender: Natsume Hyuuga.  
__Time: 6:25 pm  
__Mikan? What's wrong?_

_Sender: Natsume Hyuuga  
__Time: 7:59  
__Where the hell are you? I just got a phone call from your dad telling me that you're missing. Mikan? I know you have your phone with you. Text me back. Don't scare me like this._

She wrote a message to him and was about to press send, but stopped. Did she want Natsume to know where she was? She knew he'd come, but what then? It wasn't like he would offer her a place in his own home. He might even insist on staying with her out in the cold. She didn't want him to be out here, freezing with her. He'd spent enough of his nights away from his home. She knew that better than anyone. She couldn't burden him any farther. She moved her thumb and pressed the delete button instead.

_Are you sure you want to delete this message?_

She pressed _yes_.

_Message deleted._

She sighed and put her phone back into her pocket. Then she buried her head back into her knees and cried.

At that moment, she didn't know where she'd rather be – inside her cozy house having dinner wither her mother or outside here freezing in the cold.

She didn't know when it was when the crunches came. They were subtle and light at first, but she could tell by the increasing noise that there was a person coming towards her. What if it was her father, or her brother, or even worse, her mother? Her heart started thumping like crazy. Then the whistling of the snow drowned out the footsteps so she couldn't tell if the person was still there or not. She merely curled up into a tighter ball and prayed that he or she would just pass and not notice her.

However, the sounds of someone crawling into the tube startled her and Mikan's head immediately snapped up.

"So you're just going to freeze to death two days before Christmas. This is the smartest fucking idea you've ever had, Mikan. Why didn't you text me back?"

"I didn't want you to find me."

"Well that was stupid since you know I would have anyway."

"How'd you know–"

"I knew you'd need shelter in a storm like this and this place is the first place that came to mind. Besides, it's not as if you've never taken shelter here before."

"Natsume-"

"Come here. You're freezing." He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him with slight difficulty. "Man, we've grown since we've last been in here… I don't remember this thing being so small…"

They readjusted their positions so that their bodies were as close to each other as possible. Mikan sighed into his chest and wrapped her arms around him contently. "Well I don't remember you being so warm. I swear I've never been more glad to see you. This is so much better than that time you rescued me in grade two."

"Well you'd be amazed at what you discover when you're outside half freezing to death."

"Indeed." She tightened her arms around him. "Why did you come Natsume?"

"Because I'm 'it'."

"Hide and seek?"

"I'll always find you, mostly because you suck at hiding. Anyway, you can run, but you'll never be able to hide from me."

"But 'it' can find anyone. Why me?"

"You're the only one that's worth it."

"You probably just choose to find me because I suck at hiding the most."

"You never have a one-track mind. When you run from me, you never try. You always wait up, even if 'it' catches you."

"I didn't want you to get left behind."

"Didn't it ever occur to you that I'd take advantage of you?"

"I trust you."

"You've trusted a lot of people, and look where they got you," said Natsume.

"I'd like to think that it got me pretty far in life."

"Out in a snowstorm with me?"

"Well, you're warm, and that's really all I need."

"Me or my warmth?"

"Both."

"I see what's happening. You're taking advantage of me."

She cuddled into his chest further with a content sigh. "Yes. Maybe. I don't know. I can't think straight right now."

He rolled his eyes. "You're not going to sleep on me, are you?"

"It's very tempting."

"Well I guess I'll just leave now then." He shifted away from her.

"NO!" She tightened her arms even more, if possible. "If you leave, I swear I'll cry."

He sighed and pulled her up to his chest again. She tilted her head up to look at his face. "You've been crying a lot lately. Want to talk to me about it?"

"Do I have to?"

"You ran away, Mikan. It's negative twenty degrees outside, with the windshield. You scared me half to death. If you don't need help now, then I don't know when you would."

"Mmm."

He sighed at her stubbornness. He tilted her chin until she was looking up directly at his face. "You don't want to talk."

She shook her head.

"Why not?"

"I just don't. It's not something that you'd understand."

"Look. Are you worried that I'll tell someone else? When have I ever told any one of your secrets? Mikan, if you don't speak now then you're going to forever hold it in. I don't like it when you're like this. You can confide in me, Mikan. That's why I came to look for you. You said you didn't want to grow up not knowing your mother. You want that, don't you? You don't have to deal with this alone; I'm here to help."

"I like how you _always_ show up when you're unneeded."

"Well I like how you're so stubborn that you never take suggestions from anyone."

"Thank you very much, Natsume," she gritted through her teeth. "I think you'll be happy to know that your sarcasm is and has always been piercing my bubble of happiness."

"Speaking of piercing, I _really_ like how you would always rant on about best friend this, best friend that. Oh, hey! That's Natsume, my _best friend_ in the whole wide world!"

She opened her mouth to retort, but closed it upon seeing his hurt expression. He was frowning and he slightly shook his head back and forth before turning his head. But the pain shown in his eyes was indescribable. It was a mix of disappointment, sadness and longing.

She opened her mouth to say something again, but all she could manage was, "oh… Natsume…"

"I once thought that my dad really didn't want me. I told myself to be strong. The only way I knew how to be strong back then was to isolate myself so I wouldn't get hurt. If I convinced myself that no one really did want me, then I wouldn't be as disappointed when I found out. Grade one, you were the only one who wanted to talk to me. I didn't want to you. I didn't want to get my hopes up. But you wanted me around, you know? So I wanted you. Being unwanted… isn't that everyone's greatest fear?"

His face was hard and his teeth were clenched and a single tear rolled down the edge of his left eye. He swallowed hard and blinked the remainder of his tears away. She reached up and wiped the single, stray tear off of his face with her fingers.

He cupped her face with his hands and turned it to him. "The reason I came today is because I don't want you to be me. I don't want you to isolate yourself from everyone. I don't want you to feel unwanted."

He tilted his head and slowly, gently brought his lips down on hers. She felt heat rushing through her body. As he tenderly nipped and sucked on her lips, her arms circled around him and started roaming his back. She pressed her body to his. Her heart pounded like it never before. One of his hands caressed her face gently and circled around to the back of her neck.

"I don't know, Natsume," she gasped when they broke off momentarily. "It's uncomfortable making out in a children's playground tube and hooking up in the middle of the snowstorm is a bit awkward."

He was trailing kisses down her neck. "Mmm. You talk as if someone's going to know about this."

"But if someone asks, 'how did he first ask you out', what am I supposed to–"

Natsume stopped and cupped her face with his hands again. "Stop. Ruining. The. Moment. Mikan."

He pulled her close and kissed her again, nibbling on her lower lip.

"Natsume," she growled, but her mind crashed completely and she couldn't think straight. All she knew was that she could barely feel the cold anymore. Though they had layers of clothing between them, her skin was on fire wherever she touched him. His kisses were becoming increasingly hard to resist; she was overcome by a powerful desire for the guy she'd known as a best friend for the past eleven years.

It was like her mind and body screaming for him in synchrony.

With one last gasp, she gave in and kissed him back. The second kiss was more aggressive as they both let their overpowering desire take over. His hand snaked around to the back of her neck again and he pressed her head down, allowing him to gain further access to her mouth. He pressed her against one curved wall of the tube. He slipped his tongue into her mouth, eliciting a groan of pleasure from her throat. She explored and memorized his with her own tongue. She wanted him. She wanted him so much that she needed him. Her lungs that were deprived of air, however, had a different idea, and with one last nibble on Natume's lower lip, Mikan pulled apart.

He stared at her, panting for breath, with an intense look and an unspoken question in his eyes before collapsing back on to opposite wall of the tube. She answered by crawling over and circling her arms around his body. He threaded his fingers through her disheveled hair. Laying her head down on his chest, Mikan listened to the steady beat of his heart.

"You're very warm, Natsume."

"Hn."

"I never really imagined it like this."

"It was close enough for me."

"I love how you never give up on me. I really liked being best friends with you."

"Well I hated it. Your definition of a best friend for me is just like a girlfriend minus the making out part."

She laughed. "Well then it must suck to find out what you've been missing for all these years."

"Honestly, yes it did – the finding out part."

"Mmhm."

He stroked her hair. "What happened between you and your mother?"

Mikan gave a heavy sigh and got up. "Do you really want to talk about this now?

He shifted himself as close to her as he could and entwined her fingers in his. "As a matter of fact, I really do want to know. It's been bothering me that it's been bothering you since before winter vacation."

"Everything began long ago, since my mother was a teenager. Growing up, Yuka developed a huge fascination for brand names. She refused to wear anything that wasn't made from a famous brand name. However, famous brand name clothing and accessories were really expensive, and her family, being immigrants, wasn't very rich. But the crazy thing is that she got so obsessed with them that she resorted to stealing."

"That would explain it."

"Explain what?"

"In mother's diary, she stated, 'as she walks down the isle towards to man she is about to marry, it seems so surreal to me that this is the girl that I met in they dated for a while. She really liked him and she was afraid of what he would juvenile delinquent centre years ago.'"

"Our mothers met in a juvenile delinquent centre."

He nodded.

"Wow," remarked Mikan, "it does seem surreal."

"Yeah."

"Well from what I heard, she met my father in college. She really liked him and was scared of what he'd think of her once he found out. She tried to hide her secret obsession. However, when he proposed to her, she broke down crying and confessed. And he told her that they'd cure it somehow. They went steady for three years, and while my father never completely cured my mother's obsession, he did reduce it quite a lot. When I was small, sometimes my mother would pass by a store and linger at the window. It was first time I had seen the expression of agony. She'd stare hard at an item, bite her lip, then quickly walk away, upset.

"My parents got divorced when I turned four. Early spring, mom had a miscarriage. She was really upset over it and she just went out and blew up her credit cards. For every single day of two weeks, she went out and came back with bags and bags of expensive stuff – clothing, shoes, handbags, you name it. At the same time, my father's company was having a relapse and his pay was getting deducted. It wasn't that bad at first, but our financial situation got worse as the months passed. Then came the first month day that dad had to borrow money to pay the bills. He freaked out at my mother. I was so scared of the yelling that I ran to Tsubasa's room. He heard everything that they said that night. After that, mom was banned from spending so much as a single penny on anything that wasn't an absolute necessity. She became depressed and moped around a lot. Her temper got short; she would snap at Tsubasa and I for doing the smallest things. One night, she went right up to my father's room and yelled, 'I can't take this! I can't take it anymore! If you're not going to provide me with the money I need, then I'm going to find someone else that can!'"

"That's crazy."

"After she left the room, she saw Tsubasa and I peeking. She only glanced at us before walking away. The expression she had that day terrified me. She looked like she was on the brim of insanity."

Natsume gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "That someone was your stepfather."

"Yes, it was. Even though I dislike Yukihara, I still feel indebted to him. It was so terrible back then that I don't know what would have happened if he had not come along.

"By fall, a divorce was already filed and they were splitting their stuff. The damage was beyond repair at that point. Love didn't matter anymore. What mattered was who gets to keep what, and both my dad and my mom wanted to keep Tsubasa and I. Mom wanted to keep me while Tsubasa went with dad, but dad said wanted none of that. He wanted us to grow up together as siblings, not as strangers. Persistent, he offered my mom material things in exchange for me. He offered to buy her cars, clothes, but she said that Yukihara could easily afford that. Then he offered her the house and she –"

Mikan swallowed.

"She took it. She chose the house over me. Of course, I didn't know at the time, but eventually I found out. It was infuriating. I threw fits and smashed all of our dishes. And by the time I was calm, I made a resolution: If she didn't want me, then I don't want her either. We left the house. We moved in with my father's friend and stayed there for two years before purchasing my current house. I've only even seen my old house twice after the divorce."

"When?"

"The first time was against my will, four years ago. The summer he graduated, he and his friends were going to a cottage for their own personal graduation trip. I wanted to go too but he said no. Only after much persuasion by Misaki and Kaname did he take me. I was a brat back then. I nagged a lot and wanted to go home so Tsubasa and I ended up leaving the night before. I don't know what he was thinking and I can't remember everything clearly because I slept for most of the ride. I did however remember this one house that he took us to. Everything was dark except for the light coming from the street lamps and the figures were a bit of a blur. But I do remember seeing my mother wasted, her two friends being her only support. She limped toward the house. She couldn't even open her door; one of her friends opened it for her. The next morning, I asked Tsubasa why he took us there but he never answered.

"The second time was two years ago. He wanted answers to his questions and I went with him willingly. However, when we rang the doorbell, a stranger opened the door. She'd sold the house only a month before we drove there. I don't know if he ever bothered tracking her down but I never did. He never mentioned it after that either. Our father never knew."

"Have you ever talked it out with your mother?"

"She knows I know. The Christmas after I found out, she phoned and told me a bunch of excuses why she wanted the house – how she might need space from Yukihara and how it contained many memories of our family. In all honesty, none of them made sense to me, even now. I want nothing to do with her or Yukihara. All they do is hurt me. I was unwanted, Natsume, by my own mother."

He squeezed her hand again.

"I'm not going to go back there. I'm not going to go and talk to her and get my hopes that she'll want a permanent place in my life now. I'm not."

Natsume put his hands on her shoulders. "You're going to accomplish even less in this snowstorm. At least if you go back, you'll have a warm bed to sleep in. If you don't want to talk to your mother, no one's forcing you to. Just know that this will be how it's going to be from now on. A single phone call every year that you'll still refuse to pick up twenty years from now. Your children will never get to know who their grandmother was. You will never get to know your mother, and vice versa. Are you alright with that? You may never be able to see your mother again after today. Are you okay with that?"

"Even if I'm not okay, what difference does it make?!"

"It makes a lot of difference, because right now you're choosing not to be there. Right now, you are the missing one."

"I-" She stopped herself and lifted her head to look at him, silent question in her eyes.

He gave her a quick, fleeting grin.

* * *

Narumi and Tsubasa both sat anxiously on the couch in the living room. The house was silent. In fact, the only sound was the ticking of the clock, but that sound was all that mattered. Misaki had already gone to sleep, but the worried brother and father had their eyes fixed on the clock ever since calling everyone that possibly knew where Mikan could be at the moment. With each minute that passed, their anxiety increased tenfold.

Finally Tsubasa let out a long sigh and strolled to the kitchen for a pointless trip to the fridge.

Narumi fiddled his thumbs and looked down at the floor where a package addressed to Mikan Sakura laid. He took the label in his hands and held it tightly before letting go.

Suddenly, there were knocks on the door. Tsubasa and Narumi sprang simultaneously from where they were and ran to the door. They turned the lock and almost pulled the door off its hinges in opening it. On the other side of the door were Mikan and Natsume, their hair covered with snowflakes.

"I found her," commented Natsume.

They were immediately pulled into the house.

"Oh my god you stupid, stupid girl!" Tsubasa almost yelled. "Do you have any idea what temperature it is outside? We were beginning to think you'd be a block of ice and snow once we found you. And you! The kid from before! I'm forever indebted to you for finding my sister. Just know that if you do anything bad to her, anything at all, our truce is over."

"Understood."

Mikan quickly scrutinized the house. "Are they sleeping already? It's only eleven."

"Misaki's upstairs sleeping," Narumi answered. "Yuka and Yukihara already left. When they got here and discovered that you were missing, Yuka insisted on them leaving. She didn't want you to be upset once you came back."

"Oh."

"She left something for you though."

Narumi pointed to the bag that was by where he was sitting earlier. Mikan walked over and took it.

Reached into the bag and parting all the tissue paper, she felt something furry come in contact with her hands. She took it out of the bag and her eyes widened. It was a teddy bear, an extremely worn out one. On its collar were the words _Mr. Bear_. She had a slight recollection of sleeping with the bear when she was small.

She put the bear aside and reached into it again. This time she felt something sharp. She took everything out of the bag, including the tissue paper. There was a card and a photo. The photo showed a picture of her four year old self hugging the bear as she slept.

"Aww," she said, then showed it to Natsume. "Wasn't I so cute when I was small?"

He took the picture from her hands. "You look like you were choking the bear. I always knew you were evil deep inside."

"Shut up."

Mikan looked at the card. There was a border around the outside with sparkly letters on the inside that said: _From: Yuka. To: Mikan. _She opened the card. Inside was a message written in Yuka's handwriting.

_Dear Mikan,_

_If you're reading this right now, I'm hoping that we have already met and talked. Whichever way the conversation ended, I just want you to know that I am sincerely sorry for all the trouble I have caused you._

_I know I have made horrible, inconsiderate decisions in the past. I have no doubt that I still am today and I still will in the future. That is not, however, the main reason why I came to have dinner with you. I came to take consequences for my actions. Whichever consequence you bestow upon me, whether it be to never see my face again or to make up for all the years I've missed, I am prepared to face it. _

_You may know me as a brand name whore. I cannot deny that I am exactly that. Even so, do you know how I feel about being one? Shopping makes me happy, but at the end of the day, I sit down on the floor, drowned in my clothes and purses and I think about a life where I could be walking side by side in Walmart with your father, with your hand in mine and Tsubasa's hand in his and where we'd laugh together like a family. And I look at all these expensive things I have around me again and they're not worth it, Mikan. They're really not. And I just cry because I could have had that. I was so close, Mikan, so close._

_I am aware that you saw me the other day visiting my good friend Kaoru. We had been friends for a decade and half before she died. She was the one of the only people who knew all of my problems and accepted me despite them. I am elated to learn that you have been friends with her son for years. This is one of the things of the ideal future we had planned out since we were teens. Even if everything else fell apart, I'm glad you established a friendship with him. It created a spark of faith in me. I am sorry that I have never attended her funeral. I was never a funeral person. It's too depressing, especially since she was my one and only best friend. It just didn't seem like much of a deal back then. When I heard about it, I drowned myself in my usual misery and got out the credit cards. I have, however, visited her grave on many occasions. Sometimes, I even stay and talk for many hours and imagine her talking back to me. _

_I feel that I have to explain one thing to you. The reason why I chose to keep the house instead of you is because of this problem I have in making choices. I am a very greedy person, Mikan. Whenever someone asks me to choose between two things, I would most likely choose the one with the higher value in money. It's shallow, I know, but it's the way I am. However, when I made the choice, know that I did keep your welfare in mind. I know that if I kept you, I wouldn't ever have been as good a parent as your father is. I also wanted to you to grow up with Tsubasa, if possible. But most of all, I didn't want you to grow up under my influence for the fear of you growing up to be like me. And if I don't have that life, Mikan, then at least you should._

_Will it matter to you if I say that I want to be there when you graduate? When you get married? When you have children? Because I do want to be there, Mikan. No matter what, I am still your mother. Though I may not show it, I will always love you, think of you, care about you. _

_In my heart, you will never be unwanted._

_For all the years I've missed, merry Christmas Mikan._

_Love, _

_Yuka_

_End of Grade 11_

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_

**Again, unedited. Don't kill me. This is a grand whooping total of 15000 words (I think), my longest chapter yet.**

**To Dani: I totally love family problems too. x)**

**Review?**

**Lovelove,  
****-Janet**


	13. Grade Twelve

**Indigo's Corner  
****I'm going to keep the format as it was for consistency. I do warn you though that I have not read over the past eleven chapters and have no wish to do so so I apologize for any inconsistencies in the actual writing. As this has been put off for literally _years_, it is not my top priority at the moment. Honestly, I'm surprised I even came back and finished this sucker!**

**Disclaimer  
****Disclaimed.**

**Dedication  
****Well obviously this chapter is dedicated to myself since this is the whooping _last chapter _- and how I thank god for that! No I'm just being my silly self. This one goes out to_ mishaa _****and _keaRy anCe, _and everyone else who made it this far, new or old readers_. _Thank you for loving this story so much.**

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**Grade 12**  
**Resolution **

The first and only thought that came to mind when Mikan walked into her living room was _boys are and always will be hooligans. _

The reason for this was quite simple: strewn across her sofa, on cardboard boxes, on her TV set, speakers, tea desk and on the _arm _of Koko were the set of dominoes that collected no less than a whole centimetre of dust from years of negligence. Turned out, when there were six humans with the Y chromosome – including her boyfriend – present in a house, anything could happen.

"Hey Mikan!" called Kitsuneme. "You got any more sets of dominoes around your house? We're almost out!"

"Not that I know of," she said as she placed a bowl of Doritos on the only available space of the domino dominated tea table. "Geez, I leave for a few minutes and this is what happens. You guys better be glad my father isn't home."

Natsume grunted.

_I don't want to hear that from you of all people, _thought Mikan.

Earlier that week Sumire had called her and scheduled a visit to Central Town on the very day. She said she was going to bring some of the girls so she could call Natsume and invite some of the boys over as well, because Permy wanted a mixed crowd - "like, girls only? What are we, in _kindergarten_?" On several occasions, Mikan tried to relay the invitation to Natsume but it was like there was no trace of him for the whole week - his phone was off, she couldn't find him at school, and he even disabled his Facebook account. Finally, she sent him a lengthy email detailing the event which he replied with two letters: OK.

Needless to say, she had been waiting the entire week for him to visit her house on Saturday - which he never failed to do, but who else should tag along but one Ruka, Koko, Kitsuneme, Mochu and Yuu? So there went that chance.

"Geesus, Mi, have some fun once in a while," protested Koko. "In a few months we won't even see each other anymore. Now pass me a chip."

Mikan tossed up the chip which he skillfully caught in his mouth.

"Stop it!" hissed Natsume. "You almost knocked over a domino."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about the ones Yuu put on me. Hey Kitsuneme! Feed me."

Kitsuneme took a two handful of chips and crushed them both against Koko's mouth. The latter struggled to get all the food in his mouth while keeping his left arm – and the dominoes - stationary. For the next two minutes the only sound in Mikan's living room was that of Koko munching on Doritos.

Finally, Natsume sighed as if he were the only mature being in the house. "Dude, you're distracting me. Either swallow or spit it out. Every time I try to put down the next domino all I hear is the food in your mouth. It takes skill to set up a domino course."

"What _skill_?" Mikan exclaimed.

"Skill?" said Ruka. "You know, Mikan. What everyone in this room has except for Natsume."

At this, Natsume turned around and shot everyone a glare. "Quiet, I'm trying to make this work."

"I can't believe that on the one day the six of you are free we get stuck in my house playing dominoes!" Mikan cries. "I'm actually amazed you even managed to find them. I haven't touched these things for years! They're ancient. Are we still going to Central Town today for the festival or not because Sumire's going to blow her top at us for being late."

"Oh don't worry!" Koko, whose mouth was now free of food, dismissed her with a wave of his right hand. "She's already used to it by now! She even told me."

Mikan groaned. Whenever Sumire said she was "used" to something it was always had an underlying meaning of "I tried to make you change so many times that I'm not even going to bother anymore" and often also "but don't think you're getting off easy because I can and will forever hold this over you." And when Permy held something over you, she had a tendency of bringing things up every other minute.

"Can we please go now?" she pleased.

"Okay wait, last one," protests Ruka. "Yeah! Let it rip, Koko!"

The spiky haired blond blinked blankly. "Er – Beyblade?"

"No, the dominoes you idiot!"

"_Oh_! Okay yeah."

Then he tipped over the one on his shoulder and the five of them fixated their attention at the trail of falling dominoes all across Mikan's living room. As the last domino tipped over, Koko and Kitsuneme simultaneously gave a big whoop.

"Okay, now we go," said Mochu.

"What?" exclaimed Mikan. "No! Now you clean up and then we go out. Do you really want me to sic Sumire on you? I have her on speed dial. Just three buttons away..."

Although he gave an unenthusiastic grunt, Koko was the first one who started cleaning up the dominoes off the floor. As he was the closest one to Permy of the six of them in the room, he knew her wrath all too well. Slowly, but surely Mikan made sure all the other boys followed his lead as well.

"You know," said Kitsuneme as he gathered all the chip crumbs in the dustpan Mikan fetched him, "I noticed that you've been becoming more and more like and Imai-Shouda hybrid lately. I blame Natsume."

"Hey," snapped a certain individual. "Watch your mouth twerp."

"But seriously, Mikan. Is it the stress of graduating or something? I don't know why but you've been less fun."

Mikan apologized and improvised a quick but passable excuse on the spot. She didn't want to say aloud what had been plaguing her mind the last few days – at least, not in a room full of six people. A few days ago, a certain letter came from a certain woman that up until recently, she had a rocky relationship with. After that, she had been dying to discuss it with Natsume, since he was the only one involved with her mother, but their conflicting schedules prevented that from happening.

With a sigh, she took a seat on her couch and watched the boys clean up until the room reverted to its pre-domino state.

"Wait, so how's this going to work?" asked Koko. "Cause we only have like one car right, but seven people so like do two people go in the trunk? Cause I wanna be one of them!"

"Nobody's going in the trunk," Natsume stated firmly.

"Aww..."

Mikan immediately saw the chance and piped up. "Natsume and I can take the bus while the rest of you drive."

"Oh shit! Something's about to go _down_!" hooted Koko. "Natsume, you da man! Just make sure you guys don't do too much PDA, cause you know when you have one of those couples who are like literally attached at the hip and it's kind of hard for everyone else to watch. Just be easy on the eyes, right. And remember to play safe. Always safe than sorry"

"Koko," she reminded him. "When have you ever seen Natsume and I make out in public?"

"Oh... true. Well, you know, better safe than sorry," he repeated. "Let's go people, or Permy's going to push us all down into some spike pit."

One by one, Natsume's friends left the house until it was just Mikan and Natsume left. Right when the door closed snugly into the door frame, Natsume closed the distance between them. When he wrapped his arms around her waist, Mikan could only think of how it'd been too long since they last spent time together. For the last year, both of them had been zombies. There had been too many expectations to reach, both from themselves and from others.

"I hate it when you leave your phone off, you know?" she murmured.

He grunted in response.

"And lately it seems like I can never get to you. You disabled your Facebook, Twitter, and I can't call your home phone because it's always your dad that picks up. And I leave you voice mails but I don't know if you ever receive them."

"Yeah. I do. I have a limited balance and I usually leave it off so I won't be tempted to text or call anyone."

Mikan withdrew from the hug. "Limited balance? How come?"

"Oh, because I started using pay as you go and I'm trying to limit by budget down to fifteen, twenty dollars per month. I have to start saving up or I won't have enough for my college tuition."

"Oh," replied Mikan, surprised. "Didn't you tell me that your father was paying for it? As long as you get a scholarship, I mean. It shouldn't be that hard since you got a ninety average last semester and on your midterm report."

"No, my dad agreed to pay my tuition if I went to university. I'm not going to university.

At this, she furrowed her brow.

"Let's talk about this later."

"Okay."

As they, too, exited the house, Natsume gently grasped her hand and entwined his fingers with hers. All the while, Mikan bore a very prominent smile of delight on her face and thought for the umpteenth time that this is how it should be. She turned to take a discreet peek at her boyfriend's face but his expression, as usual, was not comprehensible.

While determined on touching on the subject of her letter, Mikan decided that she'd rather not disturb this rare moment of serenity. It seemed that the world around she and Natsume remained hectic at all times. Whether it was one problem or another, severe or trivial, there was always an underlying tension between them. Neither wanted the other to interfere, for the both thought the other had given more than enough throughout their lives.

It was then, Natsume who broke the silence between them first with the proposal "let's not go to the festival."

"What do you mean?" asked Mikan.

"I'm saying we ditch them and explore the transit system for the day."

Mikan weighed her options thoughtfully. On one hand, she'd really get it when Permy found out about this – worse than Koko, and that was saying something. But then it was Natsume. Whenever he wanted to be alone with her it was never without an important cause. And this could be the perfect chance to get his opinion on the letter she received earlier.

"So what about Permy's plans?"

He shrugged. "Shouda will get over it. She always will. Besides, isn't this what you wanted?"

"Fine, but I'm telling her it's your idea," she conceded. "What were you saying earlier by the way? I mean, about your dad not paying for your tuition."

"Well, I expected it for a while, the ultimatum I mean. It's not exactly uncanny of him, but his conditions were that he would pay for my entire tuition but only if I get a scholarship to a university satisfactory by his standards. Not that I'm incapable, but it just really, _really_ pissed me off when he said that. I never planned to go to university in the beginning. I want to get into an arts college to learn animation or design. So yeah, that's it. I already broke the news to him. He already blow his top for the last month or so. By this point, he doesn't even care about what I do anymore. It's more like he's concentrating his attention on Aoi now, since I'm the disappointment of the family."

His eyes became hollow as he said this, and when he looked down Mikan saw slight traces of eyebags from all the stress.

"But at least you have a firm resolve," she told him. "And you will prove him wrong. I know you will because you always have."

There was an elongated pause. Then Natsume gave the heaviest sigh. "At this point, it's not about proving him right or wrong anymore. All I want is for us to get along. I don't think we'll ever like each other enough to bring down this wall between us entirely, but it would really help if we can come to a consensus for once."

Mikan faintly smiles. "You probably take after your mother too much."

"Obviously that's why I'm so amazing."

He got a playful smack for that.

"Mom was more intense than me though, you got to admit. All kinds of shit happened during her school days. She actually went to juvie once."

"I know. Your mom befriended my mom at juvie and after they were released they committed mischief to the nth degree."

Surprised, Natsume turned to her and questioned, "your mom told you? Does that mean you guys are on better terms now? You're no longer running out into snowstorms to avoid her or anything of the like?"

A blush crept onto Mikan's face as she recalled the events of the previous year. "Shush. Let's not talk about that incident. She and I made progress after that letter. My dad kept on pestering me to send her a reply and I guess I caved in sooner or later. But her phone numbers and mailing addresses change quite regularly so it's hard to get a hold of her sometimes. Recently, though, she made me an offer that's been lingering in my mind."

"What's her offer?"

Mikan tilts her head upwards to stare at the clouds. "Well you know how I told you about how I got into the university of my first choice right? And I worked really hard for it, too... Well my mother sent me a letter a few days ago asking me to take a year off after graduation to travel the world with her. She said she'd been saving up since that Christmas and she regrets not getting to know her children better. I'm to make up my mind before we meet at Tsubasa's wedding."

"And when is that?"

"Mmm, I believe it's the fifteenth of June."

"Then don't sweat it too much. You still have a month to decide."

"I was kind of hoping you'd give me some advice on this?"

She looked up to Natsume with hopeful eyes, which he wished that she hadn't. From his girlfriend's face, Natsume could tell that Mikan wanted him to choose for her. He didn't want it to come down to this, for he knew that what he wanted to tell her was based on pure selfishness. It wasn't fair that she gave him monopoly of one of the most important decisions in her life.

He contemplated whether to give her a truthful answer when their bus came around the corner.

"Bus is here," Natsume sighed in relief. "Let's go."

For now, he would just endure her look of disappointment.

As they took a seat down at the back, Mikan's phone started to buzz.

"Um," she said hesitantly when seeing the caller ID. "It's Permy. She's probably calling to ask us what's taking so long."

"Just ignore her," Natsume replied. "Actually, turn off your phone, just for today."

"Yeah, okay."

After that, they averted the the topic to more pleasant things. Natsume asked Mikan about the wedding and she happily explained to him that Tsubasa and Misaki had been engaged for quite a while now but both of them decided to only get married after they landed secure jobs. Tsubasa got an offer as soon as he graduated. A few months later, when Misaki landed a job as a manager in a stable electronics company, they set the date.

"You should come to the wedding Natsume," she finished. "You could be my plus one."

"Nah," he said while staring out into the scenery. "Don't want to ruin this moment for your brother. Your relaves don't seem to like me much."

"Nonsense," Mikan protested, setting her head quite comfortably down on his shoulder. "My mother is invited despite the fact that I pretty much grew up without her. Your mom is my mom's close friend, so you're practically a family friend. It's not like you have trouble keeping up with your grades anyways. And Aoi should come too."

She waited for Natsume to respond for the longest time, but not a word came out of his lips. He only stared out the window, lost in a trance. Mikan tried to read his expression again, but to no avail, so she just gave up and stared out the other window. Soon, the passing trees all became a blur of green and her eyes got heavier and heavier until everything finally succumbed to darkness.

What seemed like hours later, Natsume gently moved his shoulder from underneath her and shook her awake.

"Hey, we're at the end of the route. Time to get off."

"Great," Mikan replied. Her eyes strung from the transition from the dim light of the bus to the bright of the sunshine. "That means we're down at the beach right? Ooh, let's go to the ferry."

"You want to go on a _boat_ ride?"

Mikan's smile dimmed slightly. "Sure, why not? As long as we get back here before our transfer expires..."

"I don't have money."

"Oh. Right. Okay, let's go find a bench someplace and sit then."

They walked along the beach in search of a spot to sit down, but most of the benches were occupied so Mikan and Natsume finally settled for a shady spot under an ancient willow tree, right next to the water.

"Wow, it's so clear you can see the bottom," Mikan said, leaning over the edge of the land.

"Yeah," agreed Natsume. "But that's because the water bearly comes up to your waist at this spot."

"True that. But we should really go fishing someday. My dad recently got a license and lately it's become somewhat of an obsession. On some days, he's out until as late as ten pm at night."

Mikan got down on her knees and dipped her hands into the cool, clear water. She saw her reflection in the lake and reached to fix a strand of hair that was out of place. As she did this, a few minnows felt the ripples and started swimming around frantically.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Mikan. "I see fish. I wonder if I can catch one."

She reached out into the water, but every time she tried to grasp at one, they swam further out into the water.

"Hey," Natsume called gruffly. "If you reach any further you're going to-"

A shriek elicit from Mikan as she lost balance and tried to steady herself by reaching for the bottom. Natsume jumped up and grasped her waist before she could fall any further. When he pulled her up, Mikan's face, along with the majority of her blouse, was drenched.

"You are one smart cookie," he said sardonically as he pulled her back onto land.

"I know," agreed Mikan, wiping the water from her face and bangs. "That's how I get myself into all these situations. At least I'll always have you to save me."

"Not for much longer though. Luckily your pants didn't get wet. Here-" he stripped his shirt. "You should wear this while yours is drying."

Mikan felt the all the heat in her body creep upwards onto her face. "Uh, okay but what are you going to wear?"

"Nothing."

She stared blankly.

"What? You've never seen a shirtless guy before?"

Well, she had. And it wasn't really uncommon for guys to go walk around shirtless on the beach. And this was her boyfriend so there was no reason to be flustered, yet Mikan still was. With his abs out in the open, it was like Natsume had a huge LOOK HERE sign pasted on his stomach. Every time she happened to get a glance, more blood would rush up to her cheeks. Half the time Mikan tried to keep her cool and avert ogling, she found her eyes unconsciously drifting back.

"I'm going to look for a washroom to blow dry my clothes," Mikan announced, a bit too eagerly.

However, after a quick survey it was evident that there was no washroom in vicinity.

"Just change out here," said Natsume

"In the open?" Mikan gasped in a whisper. "I have shame!"

Natsume shrugged. "Go behind a tree then. It'll take three seconds. Who cares if someone sees you? We're at the beach. Lots of girls in bikinis here."

Mikan pointed out that she wasn't in a bikini.

"So? Bras and bikinis are pretty much the same thing."

At this, her face crimsoned. "Fine, I'm going behind the tree now. _Don't_ look."

As fast as her hands could allow, Mikan stripped of her blouse but then she looked at Natsume's shirt and mentally cursed. Today he was wearing one of those buttoned up shirts. And furthermore, the button holes were teeny. She was pretty sure it took her more than five minutes to get the buttons in.

"Done?" he asked, just as she was about to put the last button into place. "By the way, polka dots _still_?"

Her fingers froze and she slowly looked at him, livid.

"You - you _peeping tom_!" Mikan exclaimed, a bit too loud for Natsume's liking. "I told you not to look. Ugh! _Unbelievable_..."

As she was storming away, Natsume caged his girlfriend's small figure inside his arms and spun her around in circles twice. When he set her down, he reached over her shoulder and gave her a small peck on the corner of her lips. All the while Mikan was shrieking in surprise.

"Still mad at me?"

"Yeah, and I'm planning to throw you into the water."

"If I'm going down," he said while planting more kisses on her cheek, "you're going to have to go down with me. We'll both be soaking wet for the next hour. How about it?"

"All right, all right!" Mikan gave in, laughing. "At least let me sit."

So sit they did, underneath the willow tree once more.

"What have you been thinking about lately?" Mikan asked him. "I mean, when we walked to the bus stop, and then on the bus, and just now when I tried to catch fish. You seem a bit spaced out."

"Oh, nothing in particular. I was dwelling on how everyone's going to graduate soon and how we all have different places to go. And people will probably become strangers to each other from now on."

"Ugh. You make is sound so tragic. That's not true. We still have grad and commencement and prom and most of us will be back every summer."

"What about Imai though? Aren't you sad that she's leaving you?"

"Hotaru is a bum!" Mikan cried vehemently. "I can't believe she got accepted into MIT. While we're all here busting our butts off to maintain our grades she'll be putting police cars on roofs or doing some other crazy hack. Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask but how is Ruka taking this?"

"No idea. He says things have been rocky between him and Imai lately."

"Oh," Mikan replied sadly. "I hope things work out between them."

Natsume grunted his agreement.

"You know," said Mikan. "I really love the last twelve years that we've been together. I know there was lots of crying and angst and fights and breakups between all of us but I guess that's all just a part of growing up. On the first day of grade one, I was such a nervous kid. I didn't know anyone, and now I'm spending the day running away from friends with you. I'm so lucky that I spent twelve whole grades with everyone, from Valentines to Christmases to birthdays and babysitting. Don't you feel the same way?"

Natsume, once again, grunted his agreement.

"You better bring me a tissue box on graduation day, Natsume. I bet you one hundred bucks that I'm going to be the biggest crybaby of all."

"And you say I was making thing sound tragic," he mused.

"Yeah, and you were! I was just getting a bit emotional, that's all. But no lie about the tissue thing. You better bring me a box of tissues for real, or a huge hanky."

"All right, all right. Let's go catch the bus before our transfers expire."

Despite her reluctance, Mikan let him pull her up from her spot. Together, they walked across the park in the direction of the bus stop. Mikan closed her eyes to feel the breeze coming from the lake and she couldn't help the smile forming on her lips as she reminisced once more about her childhood.

"Ah!" a sudden screech interrupted her thoughts.

Mikan's eyes shot open immediately. She looked in the direction of the cry, only to see eight too-familiar faces across the street, gaping at them.

"You floppers!" screeched Sumire, and even through the loud sounds of automobiles, her voice came crisp and clear to Mikan's ears. "I can't believe this! How dare you! Mikan, come over here this moment so I can wring your neck and turn you into a bobblehead! We waited for you for an entire _hour_. An hour, you hear me? I called you a grand total of _eighteen_ times! Turn on your phone. Arg!" And then she began making furious, incoherent sounds.

"Well, should we run or should we run?" asked Natsume. "The light's going to turn green on their side. Oh too late, they're coming over."

And sure enough, Sumire was rampaging across the street. Not far after her came the five boys, and Anna and Nonoko.

"It's all your fault," Mikan hissed in his ear.

"_Why_ is Natsume shirtless, Mikan?" asked Kitsuneme, who was bearing a ginormous grin. "And _why_ are you wearing his shirt?"

"I told you they were gonna ditch us to make – nodon'tkillmeNatsume!" Koko cowered behind his friend as Natsume gave him the evil eye.

"Don't worry about us, guys," Mikan commented innocently. "We had a _lot _of fun."

Kitsuneme and Koko exchanged looks and muffled laughter.

"Well now that we've found you, you're coming with us to Central Town," ordered Sumire.

"I can't," said Mikan, pointing to the shirt she as carrying. "My blouse is wet and our transfers are about to expire."

"I'm not even going to ask what happened... What are you guys anyways? Cheapskates? You are so coming with me to Central Town. No questions asked, or I'm never going to invite you to another one of my parties again. I'm not letting you two out of sight. Mikan, turn your phone on for goodness sakes! What is the point of bringing it if you're leaving it off? And when we're going back you can go in my car. And Mikan will be riding shotgun with me, for your information Mr. Hyuuga. Control those hormones children!"

"Or at least name your kid after me!" Koko piped in.

"You're disgusting!" exclaimed Sumire. She pinched his ear, making him cry out in pain.

"Mercy! Mercy! God!"

For the rest of the day, Sumire dragged them all of them from shop to shop. It turned out that there were many nifty places around Central Town hidden barely out of sight. They found a crystal shop, a very nice bakery that Anna loved and various antique stores. Though it was very tempting, neither Natsume nor Mikan spent any more money that day. Natsume was dead set on saving up for college and Mikan, upon seeing her boyfriend's determination, decided that she too would put a hold on spending, because after all there were always better uses for money.

"I'm dead tired," Sumire said, stretching herself out like an oversized cat. "Let's go home guys. Today was a pretty eventful day. After this we'll have exams. Boo. And I'm going to set up a post grad party on my house so don't forget to RSVP. Koko and Kitsuneme, you guys will be my clean up crew, right?"

"Carry your own bags first and we'll talk," huffed Koko while heaving at least six shopping bags on each hand, all of them belonging to Sumire.

Dismissing his comment completely, Sumire asked, "So how are we gonna do this? Like who's going in my car and who's going in Mochu's?"

"We'll just divide it the way we did when we came," said Mochu, "And you said you were taking Natsume and Mikan anyways."

"Fine," Sumire replied with an eyeroll. "Koko, put the bags in my trunk. Mikan, come up in front with me!"

Behind Sumire, Koko made a fist at her before dumping all the bags into her car stimultaneously.

"Sorry but can I sit in the back with Natsume?" requested Mikan.

Sumire gave her a disbelieving look. "Girl, you have had the whole day with Natsume. How much more time do you _need_? Fine, fine. Have it your way. Nonoko, come ride shotgun with me. Anna, I'm sorry for making you sit with the couple that's attached at the hip."

"Hey! We are not -" protested Mikan but Natsume silenced her by putting hand on her shoulder and shaking his head.

And so after a tiring day, Mikan, Natsume, Anna and Nonoko boarded Sumire's car. As they cruised onto the highway, Mikan set her head down once more on Natsume's shoulder. The three other girls in the car were all talking about the purchases they made or the purchases they wanted to make in Central Town that day. Their chatter was drowned out until it simply became background noise. Mikan stared thoughtfully at the passing cars, and then down at the wet blouse on her lap.

"Say, when do you want me to return your shirt Natsume?" she asked.

"Whenever you want," he grunted. "It's just a shirt. You can keep it for all I care."

She fingered traced the very edge of the shirt and realized that Natsume never let her borrow anything clothing article of his before.

_That's just what I might do_, she thought with a grin. In return, she could probably go back to Central Town in the summer and get him those comics that she caught him eyeing earlier.

"How long until your house Natsume?"

"Probably five minutes?"

"Oh." Okay.

A pregnant pause ensued.

"Hey, Natsume?"

"Hn?"

She lifted her head off of his shoulder and faced him. "I think I'm going to give it a try after all – travelling the world with my mom. Even after all that's happened I wish I got to know her better and I don't us to be estranged any further. I mean, for university there's always next year but I have no idea how many more chances I'll have to get to know my mother from now on. I'll send you lots of emails and postcards and souvenirs, so start picking up your post, okay? And don't forget to send me your new address."

"Yeah," he said.

"And don't think we'll never see each other again because I fully plan on coming back here in a year and stalking you down."

"Yeah."

"And I love you Natsume, no matter what happens."

"Yeah. Me too."

The assurance in his voice was all the confirmation Mikan needed to know that she was making the right choice.

_End._

* * *

Growing up is done. Finito. There will be no further edits, no changes and nothing else - zip, zero, nil - done to this story. It was completed over the course of two years so there ought to be a huge change of writing styles throughout. And for those of you who aren't satisfied with the ending, well it's not my best work but it's the best I can do for this story. I'm beyond trying to save it since that would require countless edits and inevitably the modification of the whole plot (if there even is one).

Words cannot tell you how tedious it was writing this chapter. I have officially completed my first story. Thank you everyone. Reviews and favs are always appreciated. No need to alert this since it's completed anyway.

-IndigoGrapefruit


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